November 15

“As long as we are ‘working on ourselves’ for any reason, we are, in a sense, tearing down.  We are to work with God.  To co-operate with Him in our ‘building up’ process.  We are to let Him plainly show His own life in us through our actions.  But we are not to waste our precious energies on the futile performance of trying to improve ourselves spiritually.  We are merely to expose ourselves to Him.”  Eugenia Price, S.P.S., 10/27

The moment we begin to work on ourselves we’ve taken our focus off God.  What happens, usually, is something will cause us to doubt ourselves.  It may be someone’s actions toward us or our plans may have fallen through.  Rather than approach God and ask Him to show us if there is something we need to correct, we will go looking for the error ourselves.  I think true confession can only come when God has exposed our sin.  Too often we carry around guilty feelings that someone else has imposed on us.  Then when we attempt to confess these false guilty feelings and then receive no relief from them, we begin to doubt God’s grace.  Self-improvement is an ego-driven attempt to be as good as God and therefore on His level.  Instead God desires to give us that position at the table next to Him. 

“[God] raised us up with [Christ], and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.  For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God--not because of works, lest any man should boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”  Ephesians 2:6-10