I want to digress from therapy and write more about progress and perfection.  For many years, I thought I had to earn God’s love, and that belief coupled with my perfectionism made for a bad combination. I’ve heard sermons over the years that speak of our works being a result of our love for God, our service for him, and the outpouring of his grace in our lives; it just didn’t make sense to me.  If my works don’t earn God’s love, then why do them?  All of my therapists – ACCFS, TK, and the one I’m seeing now – have taught me about God’s unconditional love, and through their teaching, therapy, and the lessons learned at TK, they’ve helped me work at changing the tape in my head to say, “God loves me. Nothing I do makes him love me more. Or less. Whatever I do is to thank him and glorify him.”  Understanding that God desires a relationship with me and isn’t just waiting for me to mess up made all the difference. It’s not easy, and there are many days I fail, but I know I can come back to the open arms of my Father.

One time I did a word study on faith and works as laid out in James 2:18 – “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.” The definitions in the Strong’s Concordance for some of the key words were interesting.

1. Faith (G4102 pistis) – moral conviction, especially reliance on Christ for salvation, assurance
2. Works (G2041 ergon) – toil as an effort or occupation
3. Without (G5565 choris) – separately or apart from
4. By (G1537 ek) – denoting origin, from, out; often of completion.

So, if I wanted to rephrase the verse using these definitions, I could say, “Show me your reliance on Christ for salvation apart from your effort, and I will show you my reliance on Christ for salvation completed by my effort.”  → our works come after our faith or as a result of our faith. Our works don’t save us. They don’t cause God to love us more or less. They are to be an outpouring of our thanksgiving to God for that salvation.

This is supported by Titus 3:4-8, Ephesians 2:8-10, and Philippians 2:12-13.

Titus 3:4-8 – “But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior; that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.

⇒The word used for works here is the same word for toil/effort in James.
⇒This very clearly shows the order of truth – God loves, we have faith, we are justified by grace, we show his love and our thanks to him by our works.

Ephesians 2:8-10 – For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

⇒The word used for works here is the same word for toil/effort in James.
⇒God chooses our works.

Philippians 2:12-13 – Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

⇒Work out (G2716 katergazomai) – accomplish, finish, fashion, perform
⇒Worketh in (G1754 energeo) – to be active, efficient, be mighty in, show forth self, work effectually in.
⇒Our work is to accomplish something, and God’s work is mighty, efficient, showing himself.

This is getting kind of long, so I’ll stop here. Next time, I plan to write more about progress, sanctification, and rest.

While I was at Timberline, I had the opportunity to attend a local nondenominational church there, Lemont Calvary Church. I was glad TK provided a way for us to worship. The first couple Sundays I went, the pastor preached on spiritual gifts, and it was interesting to see the timing in light of the other lessons I was learning about myself, how God made me, and what he equipped me to do for his glory.

He used Romans 12 as his basis – I’ll attempt to paraphrase his message. When Paul speaks of gifts in Rom 12:6 he uses the Greek work Charisma. The pastor asked the question, “who is more charismatic than Jesus, the one who draws all men to him?” And then he explained how Jesus, being sinless and the Son of God, embodied all the gifts at the same time. When Jesus left the earth, God was expecting Christ-followers to take up the gospel message and share with others. We are all part of a body that brings the message of Jesus to those around us.

In Romans, Paul says God has given us each a measure of faith and different gifts according to his will. As God divides gifts among us, and we each put our gifts to use, the whole picture of Jesus is presented to those around us. This is one reason why we need a body of believers around us. The pastor gave examples of how people in his life shared their gifts with him, both in the church and in the community. He used Eph 2:20-22 and II Cor 2:15 to support these examples. To paraphrase Eph, we, the church, are…

• Fellowcitizens of the saints
• Of the household of God
• Built on a foundation of Jesus Christ and the apostles
• Working together to build a dwelling place for God’s Spirit that is “fitly framed together”

and we are blessing each other by using our gifts to create the whole picture.

II Cor 2:14-15 says, “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: to the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life.” God will cause us to triumph in Christ and manifest the sweetness of knowing him to everyone in every place. Some will understand and turn to God. Others won’t. It only happens through his Spirit in us; it’s pretty incredible that God would trust us, human beings with free will, to show him to everyone around us.

Other parts of this series included Moses, Samson, and Timothy. Moses tried to explain to God at the burning bush that God should use someone else. He wasn’t believing that God could use him.  Samson wasted his gifts through selfishness, and Timothy was, at first, unaware of his gifts. Paul came along, helped him get started, and then later encouraged Timothy to not forget or be fearful to use his gifts. In I Tim 4:12 &14, Paul told him, “Let no man despise thy youth…neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.” The word for gift here is the same as in Romans and I Corinthians – charisma. Later Paul repeats himself in II Timothy 1:6-7. “Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.”

Recently I became aware that an often-quoted verse – II Timothy 1:7 – is actually immediately after Paul encourages Timothy to use God-given gifts. “For God hath not given us the spirit or fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” So I have to ask myself…

• Am I unaware? Have I taken an assessment to find out what my gifts are?
• Am I unwilling? Now that I know what my God-given gifts and talents are, am I questioning them? Am I questioning God whether he knew what he was doing?
• Am I apathetic? Am I wasting my gifts, or am I actively using them to share the gospel?
• Am I anxious? Do I believe God will equip me for what he asks me to do?