Not Achieving, but Receiving!

Another despicable aspect of the AA cult -- that we must keep trying to make ourselves OK with God.

That is wrong.

We are already made acceptable, even gracious before God:

"To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." (Ephesians 1: 6)

If we do not feel strong, or if we feel condemned, the answer is not for us to do something but for us to keep receiving the truth of God's grace and righteousness given to us in abundance:

"For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." (Romans 5: 17)

For the longest time, I have been trying to make myself better. If I was feeling bad, or thinking bad, I was so obsessed with correcting the mistakes. I was obsessed with fixing my thoughts.

Today, I recognize not only that I have been forgiven of all my sins, but that I am called to receive more of the grace of God in my life.

This life is not about not sinning, this life is not about my trying, my efforts. This life is His Life in you and  me, which we receive, and keep receiving from Jesus!

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11: 28)

and also

"20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain" (Galatians 2: 20-21)

and also

"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3: 1-4)

We need to recognize that He is our life. It is not our life, nor is it a life we are trying to generate on our own.

This has been a hard saying for me. This is not a life about being better, but about Him making us better:

"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3: 18)

Receiving, not achieving, that is what it is all about!