Precious Jesus,
How glad I am that you are my advocate.
You know how prone I am to wander from grace,
to wander back into my lifelong ways
of believing by performing well—
being nice, working hard, doing good,
I will be accepted—
by others, and by God.
And the worst part is—I think those are all good things to do.
Don’t get me wrong—
I know it’s good
to be nice and work hard and do good things.
But where my wires got crossed along the way
is believing that those things make you love me more.
In your Word, you make it clear:
“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
“There is none righteous—not even one” (Romans 3:10).
There is no way I could love well enough to earn God’s favor.
That’s why you had to die for my sins, precious Jesus.
Thank you!
Thank you for this freedom
for which we have been set free!
Help us to go and sin no more,
to submit no more to the yoke of slavery (Galatians 5:1).
Instead, help us to come to you,
that you may place your light and easy yoke upon us,
the yoke of living in love because you have first loved us (Matthew 11:28-30; 1 John 4:7-8).
What astounding news this is!
By your abundant grace
and because of your transforming love we pray. Amen!
Read 1 John 2:1; Romans 3; Galatians 5:1; Matthew 11:28-30.
