Misplaced Effort
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God-- not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. (Ephesians 2:8-10 NRSV) Here is possibly one of the greatest problems with works, with trying to earn God's favor in any way. When I make choices based on the premise that God harbors any feelings towards me other than total graciousness, compassion, selfless love and forgiveness, then that very premise defines my internal beliefs about the kind of God I am serving. I am basing my life on presumptions that God's mind in some way, small or large, needs to be changed, persuaded, convinced or altered. I am clinging to beliefs and feelings about God that though false constitute the very foundation and fabric of my opinion about God. And the more I act and speak in ways that refle...