Page 100 - Grace150 Devotional

And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny
himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his
life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.
For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?
Luke 9:23–25 NASB

I had grown up in church my whole life, attending every Sunday and Wednesday.
I had been a good kid and followed the rules…“mostly.” I thought I was in pretty
good shape and God should be impressed with my life.
However, during my sophomore year of college, I was challenged by some new
friends about what it really meant to be a Christian. Their faith was life-giving; my
faith was boring and burdensome. Their time in God’s Word was a relationship;
my time in God’s Word was a duty that puffed up my knowledge. Their Christ was
Lord and Savior; my Christ was just icing on the cake of my self-righteousness.
Over the fall semester, God began to reveal how great was my sin and how
desperate was my need for Christ to save me. I had been seeking to save myself
by storing up good works. All the while Christ had given His perfect, righteous
life on the cross for me. For the first time, I saw that my good works were filthy
rags to God and would only lead to death, but if I entrusted my life to Christ, He
had already done everything necessary to save me. I laid my life down in order
to gain His life.

Father, thank You that our salvation does not depend on us, or we would be
doomed, but in Your mercy and grace, You sent Christ, and He alone has
saved us.
– Chris Sublett

DAY 93 grace 150