The Discipline of Grace

It is hard enough to praise God when you are down. It is even harder to praise God when you are happy.

Idols of the Heart

Talking to myself I inquired, "Why are you so down happy?" I discovered that it was because of ___. Pondering why ___ had such an impact upon me, I came to the realisation that ___ had become an idol in my life. An idol is someone or something that one looks to meet the thirsts of the heart. There was nothing wrong with ___, but I needed to get my heart right with God.

The Lord drew my attention to 1 Corinthians 10:14, which contains the command to "flee from idolatry".

- Adapted from Bill Thrasher, Believing God for His Best

God does not love us more on our good days. And God does not love us less on our bad days.

The Discipline of Grace

Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace.

- Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace

As Hugh Palmer pointed out at All Souls Church two Sundays ago, God's love is neither deserved nor earned. We have not done anything to deserve God's love. And we cannot do anything to earn God's love.

Not If

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." - Romans 5:6-8 (NIV)

God does not love us more if we love Him more. (God loves us infinitely and unconditionally, even as we love Him finitely and conditionally.) Rather, we choose to receive more of God's infinite and unconditional love if we love Him more, making it seem that God loves us more if we love Him more.

Likewise, God does not love us less if we love Him less. (God loves us infinitely and unconditionally, even as we love Him finitely and conditionally.) Rather, we choose to receive less of God's infinite and unconditional love if we love Him less, making it seem that God loves us less if we love Him less.

Not Because

"Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 'Come along now and sit down to eat'? Would he not rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.'" - Luke 17:7-10 (NIV)

Again, God does not love us more because we love Him more. (God loves us infinitely and unconditionally, even as we love Him finitely and conditionally.) Rather, we choose to receive more of God's infinite and unconditional love when we love Him more, making it seem that God loves us more because we love Him more.

Finally, God does not love us less because we love Him less. (God loves us infinitely and unconditionally, even as we love Him finitely and conditionally.) Rather, we choose to receive more of God's infinite and unconditional love when we love Him more, making it seem that God loves us more because we love Him more.

Praise to Thee, O Lord, for all creation
Give us thankful hearts that we may see
All the gifts we share and every blessing
All things come of Thee