1 Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith.
whatever happens... rejoice in the Lord.. sometimes that is a rough one... yet surely the truth... it amazes me when people just walk around miserable and complaining all the time... I will never understand why someone would choose sad over happy... while we may not be having great circumstances... things could ALWAYS be so much worse... be thankful!!
2 Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved. 3 For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort, 4 though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!5 I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. 6 I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.
while it is important to realize that we need to be striving to be all that God has called us to be... we still need to keep in mind that we are not saved by our righteous acts.. we are not saved by our bible knowledge.. we are only saved because Christ was willing to be slaughtered so that we might have life...
I remember when I was a kid... I am a full blooded german... and as you should well know... germans have always felt they are above others... and I was raised thinking that no one else was the same as me.. that everyone else is impure... what a ridiculous thing to teach your children... the only value I have at all is that Christ was willing to die on the cross for me.. that is what give me value... nothing I did or did not do... surely not the blood that runs in my veins... it is my spirit that holds my value... and only then if it is the spirit of the living God...
7 I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!
our works don't make us righteous... although God requires obedience from us... that still is not what saves us... it does however open the lines of communication between us and God.... and just like we are always willing to allow our kids to have another chance to do right.. thankfully.. God allows us to have another chance to do right too...
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