The Lie of Performance

by Susan Sampson

God loves us not because of our performance but because of our position in Christ.  I have spent a lifetime trying to earn love by being good enough.  It is a lie to think we could ever be good enough.  Paul says in Romans 7:18, “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature” (NIV).  I have been asking the Lord to give me His joy.  I see that I have been trying to make up for my sin, atone for my sin by my works.  The word martyr came to my mind and so I looked up the definition.  It said sacrificing person, victim, scapegoat, sufferer, offering.  I have been living as though I needed to be the martyr.  But this is not anywhere close to the gospel.  Jesus is our perfect sacrifice.  He is the “scapegoat” pictured in the Old Testament.  He became sin for me so that in him I would become the righteousness of God (2Cor. 5:21).  He is the sin offering — once for all.  There is nothing else needed.  Jesus said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). Praise be to God!

This is what I wrote in my journal: ” Help my unbelief!  I do believe!  I want to believe!  Please forgive me, Lord.  I repent of my unbelief and choose this day to believe your truth which says you love me, you are good, you are alive, you have forgiven me by the blood of Jesus, Jesus died for me, I have been set free, I have peace with God, I don’t have to do anything to earn my salvation, I have been saved by grace through faith and it was a gift, I am a new creation, the old has gone and the new has come, my life is hidden with Christ in God, the Holy Spirit dwells in me, I have been given a new heart!  My heart of stone has been removed and I have been given a heart of flesh, I once had not received mercy, but now have received mercy, I once was dead but now am alive, I once was without hope and without God, but now am a child of God and co-heir with Christ, I once was a child of wrath but now am a royal priest.  I am my Beloved’s and He is mine.  I rejoice in you, Lord.  The joy of the Lord is my strength.  You are my reason for joy.  You have put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to my God.  I love you Lord.  Thank you, Jesus, for paying the penalty for my sin!  Thank you, Jesus, for taking my punishment!  Help me stop being a martyr.  In your all powerful name I pray, Amen.”

May the Lord tenderly whisper into our ears and hearts His great love for us in Christ.

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This Tree

by Susan Sampson

We want to be that tree planted by streams of water.  It is the living water that causes fruit to grow and leaves to not wither in seasons of drought.  This living water is God’s Word.  How can we be this tree?  By delighting ourselves in the Lord and His Word.

Ladies, may we not resist the Lord and the work He is wanting to do in our hearts.  May we not give into fear nor try to control our lives, but as children trust in our loving Father.  He doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve.  He punished our sins in Christ. Our sin has been completely paid for.  We don’t want to go around and pay double.  Our group talked about how helpful this picture is — imagining if we had paid off our mortgage, but then kept writing checks. No one would ever do that, and yet we continue to live in dungeons when Christ has set us free.

Let us lay down our to-do lists and all other worldly distractions and sit at the feet of Jesus in His Word this week, every day. Lord, help us put our flesh to do death.  Help us not try to figure things out in our human reasoning but to trust you.  Lord, give us hearts that have ears to hear you and eyes to see our sin as you see it and repent of it.  Help us to truly believe “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

“May mercy, peace and love be multiplied to you” (Jude 2).

 

 

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Why Are We… ?

by Susan Sampson

So why are we doing this study?  Why are we going through the process of asking God to search our hearts?  Because of the Gospel.  It is the Gospel that enables us to do this.  We can’t see apart from the Gospel.  This study is not about getting it right.  We are not trying to fix our sin. It’s not like math class where 2 + 2 = 4.  It is about leaving self and our old ways and holding fast to Christ and following Him.

Our culture is devoted to the idolatry of self.  Do you agree?  I know this is true of my heart.  We must be willing to die to self.  I must confess my unwillingness to die, how much I actually like my life and my sin.  We must cry out to the Lord because only God can change a human heart.  The power is in the Gospel.  Not in self.  Not in our flesh.  There is no victory apart from God.

May the Lord enable us by his grace to actually live the truths of the Scriptures that we are memorizing from Colossians 3 and put to death what is earthly in us and put on the new self, created by God.  I pray that we would be like Mary and sit at the feet of Jesus everyday, not relying on our own strength like Martha or blaming others (husbands and children or friends).  It is so easy for me to see others’ sin and yet I am so blind to my own.

Lord, we can’t hear; please help us hear.  Lord, we can’t see; please help us see.  Lord, we want to follow and don’t know how; please help us follow you and not self.

Remember when you are asking the Lord to reveal your sin to you that He talks to us with a kind, loving, and gentle voice.  That is His nature.  A gentle Shepherd.  Any condemning thoughts are not from the Lord.  There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1). Jesus took all our sin upon Himself, bore the wrath of God in our place, thereby paying the penalty we owed.  There is no greater love.  May the truth of the Gospel penetrate our blind, hard hearts!

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