Faith — The Gift - Tuesday
TODAY’S VERSE
Genesis 13:2
Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. (ESV)
If we’re honest, most of us grew up operating under a performance-based mindset. If you work hard, you get the promotion. If you practice, you make the team. If you do your chores, you get the allowance. We carry that formula into our relationship with God, subconsciously believing that His love and blessing are things we have to earn. As a result, if we take a massive spiritual detour, the only way back into His good grace is to work our way back up the ladder of behavior modification.
Growing up, I LOVED the idea of merit. As someone who was the perfect (terrible) mix of a perfectionist, authentic OCD card carrier, and people-pleaser, performance-based reward felt akin to justice. If I have to live with a harsh internal critic, make everything around me “correct,” and do all of that in a way that makes people happy and like me, then I should be rewarded in kind! Pair that with a dad who was former military (which obviously has a merit-based system of promotion) and I’m set up to be really disappointed in the corporate world!
Beyond my career, my view of God was warped by my mindset. If I’m honest, it’s a bit of a constant struggle to accept what is true of God: He gives what we don’t deserve. I want to believe I deserve good things, that I can convince God that I’m worth saving, but it’s not true. The thing that’s hard to grasp is that this is a good thing. I pale in comparison to the undeserved grace of God, exponentially.
We see this play out in the beginning of Genesis 13. Like we saw yesterday, Abram departs Egypt and heads back toward the Negeb. If we remember what he did in Egypt in Genesis 12, we know he lied, risked his wife’s safety, and doubted God’s protection. Surely we’ll see him facing punishment and loss… yet today’s text shows us that Abram left Egypt still “very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.” He was completely intact! Rather than experiencing the heavy hand of God’s punishment, he experienced the overwhelming weight of God’s unearned mercy.
As Paul describes this mercy in Ephesians 2, he reminds us that “it is by grace we have been saved through faith, and this is not from ourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.” As Matt pointed out on Sunday, salvation is not the reward for our obedience; salvation is the reason for our obedience.
God doesn’t love you because you obey; you obey because He first loved you.
Abram’s wealth and safety weren’t a paycheck for good behavior, but they were proof of God's absolute faithfulness to His promise, even when Abram was unfaithful. When we realize that Jesus completely paid for our past and present sins on the cross, it changes our entire motivation for serving Him. We don't serve to get something from Him; we serve because of what we’ve already received from Him.
APPLICATION
If you’re ready to stop playing a spiritual performance game and step into what Jesus has already done, don’t do it alone. Click here to learn more about groups at Southland and to build grace-filled, biblical community in your life.
PRAYER
God, thank You that Your mercy is not based on my merit. Forgive me when I try to earn Your love or hide from You when I fail. Help me to step into the reality of Your grace and obey because of it.
