Dare to Trust in Grace

“Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times.” – Martin Luther

The one foundational piece that spans every Christian denomination in the world is faith. Beyond faith everyone goes in about a hundred different directions. So, being rooted and grounded in faith is the most important thing a Christian can strive for. Without faith it is impossible to please God. No grey area there.

True faith goes much deeper than how we define simply believing. I believe an asprin can take away pain but unless I get the asprin inside of me it will not do any good. So our faith must go deeper than the modern meaning of believe. To get a biblical definition we will look to the Hebrew language.

The Hebrew word for “to believe” is aman. This word relates to our word Amen. In one way the word aman is used for people who are caretakers of children. People who support and susstain them by literally carrying them or by financial support. A gaurdian, nurse, nanny, or foster father is someone on whom an infant utterly depends. He or she is reliable, trustworthy, dependable, firm, and supportive.

There are two sides to this. In one way something or someone is being dependable, trustworthy, or reliable. The other way is to consider someone or something dependable, trustworthy, or reliable. When we consider someone else to have these characteristics we are trusting  them, depending upon them,  and relying on them. This is the basic meaning to Hebrew ideas of faith.

True belief in God is a trusting confidence in Him that says “God I trust my life in your hands.” And to have the Grace of God upon your life simply means to have God’s favor on your life. In other words He likes you, better yet He Loves you and if God loves you then who can be against you.

Oh how sweet those words:

“Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times.”

Go ahead, take the dare today. Dare to trust in God’s grace. Trust in it with all your heart. Lean upon the fact that God approves of you and He even favors you. He is reliable, dependable, trustworthy, firm, supportive, and is crazy in love with you.

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If you would like to use this article on your website, blog, or in another form you may do so as long as you include the text below:

Dare to Trust in Grace
By: Raymond Brady
Article Source: www.BuildYourHouseOnTheRock.org

A Calling Away From Self-Criticism

I was reading some C.S. Lewis the other night and stumbled upon an amazing concept that I had not realized was in the bible. I don’t guess I have ever heard it taught about so I thought it would be good to write about. So what is this great amazing concept? It is simply how to deal with your own self-criticism. All of us deal with a certain amount of self-criticism but some people deal with an unhealthy amount of the stuff. Well, today I am going to tell you how to get rid of it, or at least bring it to a healthy level.

Martin Luther is known as a great leader and the father of the Protestant Reformation. He single handedly took on the Catholic Church and changed history forever. But if you study his life you will learn that he dealt with a great deal psychologically. His guilt before God drove him to become a monk after the Augustinian Order and his devotions as a monk nearly took his life. Living a life of Monasticism and constant confessions seemed to never be enough for Luther.

In 1511 Luther was assigned to the University of Wittenberg in Germany under a wise monk named Johann van Staupitz who understood how to help Luther. Staupitz was determined to release this younger monk from his cycle of despair and made Luther the Professor of Bible Studies at the university. Luther would be assigned to teach the bible to other young monks, thus taking his mind off of himself. If Luther was going to teach the Bible to others then Luther himself realized he must understand what he was teaching. 

Luther was simply doing what was taught in 1 John chapter three by practicing real love. By loving and serving others we are released from self-criticism. Not by just saying you love them but by showing, or proving, your love for them. First John 3:18-20 explains that by showing love through practicing real love we actually shut down self-criticism. 

1 John 3:18-20 (The Message)
My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.

This period of study and teaching in Martin Luther’s life released him from self-criticism and led him to understand that salvation can only be achieved by faith in Jesus Christ. No amount of monkery or dedication would ever be enough to save a person. Luther’s teachings would ultimately undo generations of Catholic teaching and change our world forever.

Another beautiful thing about the teaching in 1 John 3:18-20 is that it works even when you deserve the self-criticism. Wow, what a thought. Self-criticism which we rightfully deserve can even be removed by simply practicing real love toward others.

If you deal with a load of self-criticism and struggle with how to get out from under all of it, simply start loving others around you. Not with words but with deeds. Do something nice for your neighbor. Give a friend of yours some financial help by paying their utility bill this month. Love those around you with all your heart, even your enemies, and the load of self-criticism will suddenly be shut down.

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If you would like to use this article on your website, blog, or in another form you may do so as long as you include the text below:

A Calling Away From Self-Criticism
By: Raymond Brady
Article Source: www.BuildYourHouseOnTheRock.org

Love Never Fails

I have been studying about love for the last few mornings. Today these scriptures say it all for me.

When we say that we love someone do we really mean it according to the scriptures?

I Cor 13:4-8

4. Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous ; love does not brag and is not arrogant,
5. does not act unbecomingly ; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,
6. does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth ;
7. bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8. Love never fails…

This really makes me search my own relationships and my heart.