The Days of My LIfe

Read: Hebrews 9

"How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" Hebrews 9:14

Examine:

Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, walked this earth as a man without sin and then offered Himself to God as a holy sacrifice on behalf of all who have surrendered control of their life to Him. In exchange for control of life, believers in Christ receive irrevocable reconciliation to God.

Apply:

Jesus is all that matters. How I pray or what I say is irrelevant. Being perfect is not required. My performance does not affect my holiness. I am unconditionally accepted by God as clean because I have placed my faith in Jesus as my sole source of salvation and surrendered to Him control of my life. His perfect gift of grace has my life covered. Regardless of what happens in my life I can never lose light of the fact that Christ alone gives me confidence to stand boldly before God.

I now also must allow God to clear my conscience from dead works. I have never lived under the law of the old testament. I have never sacrificed animals or had to offer up things of value to me to atone for my sins. I have not once born the burden of the law nor have I been forced to live under its scrutiny. That fact sometimes makes it easy for me to move past scriptures encouraging me to not return to the dead works of the law. If I open the definition of dead works to include any wrong understanding of God I have ever had then the picture looks differently. I once viewed God as a harsh man who was difficult to please. I once viewed faith as a golden ticket to a padded life. I once thought I could give and then force God to act on my behalf. I once used the grace of God as an excuse to live my life according to my own pleasure. My past is littered with false interpretations of scripture and broken images of God and there are days that I am tempted to return to them. I need to constantly allow God to heal these things and replace them with the truth of the work completed by Christ.

Finally, I have to know that God does all that He does in my life to position me to serve Him. He certainly loves me and wants greater things for my life than even I do, but He also knows that the greater things will always be found in serving Him. God did not fix me up to leave me in the garage. He wants me put to good use. He wants my life broken and spilled out. He wants me to live each day knowing what it means to join Him in His mission to redeem the world.

Pray:

My heart is really consumed right now with many things that have opportunity to carry me away from the cross. The weight of decisions I have to make, the pressures of the world, the consequences of my choices, and the destructive nature of my flesh all wage an effective campaign against my focus on the cross. Center me on You today. I ask that my heart, mind, and soul all be aligned with Your purity and purpose. I ask that I find a way of escape from the mental traps the enemy is using against me and that I find a place of bold confidence in Your truth and word.

In moments of confusion or pain it is often easy to abandon Your ways and pursue my own. I ask that You hold me close to Your mission. I am weak right now and vulnerable to things that sound holy and promise relief. Please, please, please, empower me to hear Your voice clearly and strengthen me to walk away from dead works. Lead me to serve You with purity, intensity, and intentionality. I ask that the days of my life be spent in a manner that will be impact someone's eternity.