Welcome to Hank’s Place
God never intended us to present our best performances to Him for approval. His intention was and is that we believe in Jesus, then grow in grace and godliness.
A little baby at birth is 100% human. It cannot get any more human. When we were born again, we became something NEW: Christians. With God on the inside, complete in Him, lacking nothing, blessed with every spiritual blessing. GLORY to JESUS.
Now like the baby, we are growing into who we truly are – Leaving behind what we once were, because we ARE NEW creations. It’s no longer rule keeping, it’s God believing!
Listen to these excerpts from Paul in Galatians 2 & 3 – the Message Bible.
“We know very well that we are not set right with God by rule-keeping but only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. How do we know? We tried it…. Convinced that no human being can please God by self-improvement, we believed in Jesus as the Messiah.”
Then Paul says, “I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man.”
He adds, “If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily. (But) …You crazy Galatians! Did someone put a hex on you? … Something crazy has happened, for it’s obvious that you no longer have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives.”
“How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God’s Message to you? … only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God. If you weren’t smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it?”
“…Doing things FOR God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you.”
Rule-keeping will only beget more rule-keeping. Dispense with your anxious self-effort my friend. Trust the Lord to complete what He has begun in you. Walk by the Spirit — and COME ALIVE!
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