Day 109: Get Up, Get Ready, and Go

 Do you ever have moments when you look at yourself and ask, how am I different than I was before?

I often have these moments.

In the midst of giving my life to Christ, and finding out what that really means every single day, I still find myself looking in the mirror and wondering if there is any real change happening. I provoke my own thoughts, wondering if I actually make the choice to let the spirit dwell within me everyday, or if I put it off as something lower on my priority list.

How do you gauge if what you are reading, and learning, about Jesus is actually making its way from your mind to your hands and your feet? How do you measure your salvation?

I feel like the answer, biblically, is work.

Good works.

Now, don't get me wrong. When I say measure salvation, I don't mean appropriate a cost, which is obviously more than paid for by Christ's blood. Instead, I mean measuring the health of your salvation, if you will. Are you strong, and confident, in the saving grace that has gripped your life, or are you feeble with the spirit, unsure if you really are saved or are just having an “experience”?

I know these questions are big, but they are essential.

Looking at my own life, I am discouraged with what I do, spend my money, time, energy on. Instead of shopping for clothes I don't need, why aren't I donating that money to people that I know need it more? Now that I have a pretty steady job, why aren't I contributing more of my time instead of wasting away on facebook and whatever other fruitless online endeavors I entertain?

I haven't felt the greatest these past few weeks, and I'm feeling as though it's a direct correlation with what I'm actually doing, or should I say...not doing.

I need to remember not just Ephesians 2:8, but also Ephesians 2:10, which says, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

God has prepared good works for us to complete, so what are we waiting for? Sometimes I think that my faith is so my own, and that I'm good to go, in a sense.

I forget that my faith is not only my own, but it is what bonds me to the community that I have been given by God. I am called not only to be in right relationship with God, but in right relationship with all those around me.

I am called to do good works in Christ Jesus that God has already prepared for me.

It's time to get up, get ready, and seek out that work.

In Christ,

Lilia