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Thanksgiving Thinking

“If Jesus Christ is to regenerate me [make me new or different], what is the problem He is up against? I am not holy, nor likely to be; and if all Jesus Christ can do is to tell me I must be holy, His teaching plants despair. But if Jesus Christ is a Regenerator, One Who can put into me His … holiness, then I begin to see what He is driving at when He says that I have to be holy. Redemption means that Jesus Christ can put into any man the… disposition that was in Himself…. The moral transaction on my part is agreement with God's verdict on sin in the Cross of Jesus Christ” (Oswald Chambers, “My Utmost for his Highest”).

That quote is deeper than many of the things that you will normally find in this article, but it is worth some thought.

What is our faith about and what is it based on?

Is it about trying harder? Is it based on me being perfect and holy? If it is, then I am in big trouble! As Chambers says, “I am not holy, nor likely to be”. Faith cannot be about me remaking myself (as it is often taught). If it is, then none of us has any hope at all.

What if the new life that God wants me to live is not something that I have to struggle to create, but is rather something that he gives?

Granted, that is an unusual thought. Most of us are conditioned to think that we have to work for any good thing that we receive and that we have to earn blessings and forgiveness.

However, the gospel says, “You are not perfect, but God has provided a way to fix that and make things better”.

To quote it exactly: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and all are justified [made right, brought into line] freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-24).

This Thanksgiving weekend, when you are thinking about all the good things in your life, may you also be thankful for the greatest gift of all: The chance to live a new life based on God’s goodness and not your own.

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