Personally, I see this next topic as being MUCH more difficult than the last post. Paul Washer addresses this issue very well in a video of his on YouTube, titled "Joy from Christ, not your performance."
And it is: Rejoicing in the Lord and his saving grace when things are going fine and there seems to be no suffering going on in your life. You are doing a good job at fighting your sin, you are reading your Bible daily and spending an hour in prayer every day. You shared the gospel with four people this week! Things are just looking up man! The sky is the limit!
But then, things change. A sin that you used to struggle with sneaks back into your life, you don't read your Bible, you forget to pray for people that have asked you to pray for them, and you feel like you have completely gone off the rails of your faith. To be straight up, Washer calls this idolatry. And he is right. This person is beginning to place their confidence and faith in themselves and their own performance. We know that this is pointless, because our attempts at righteous deeds are as filthy rags before a holy God (Isaiah 64:6). The only thing that we can cling onto and put forward before God as the source of our justification is the blood of Christ, spilt from His completed work on the cross.
Take joy from Christ's performance and not our own. Otherwise it is idolatry.
Give thanks to the Spirit for giving you the power to live a life that is glorifying to God, but ultimately all the merit you can ever have, is due to the finished work of Christ and His precious blood.
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