Skip to main content

IBS 9 - 2 Corinthians 1:12

2 Corinthians 1:12
“Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity and godly sincerity. We have done so, relying not on worldly wisdom but on God’s grace.”

I am someone who used to rely on worldly wisdom. I forgot to rely on God’s grace. I would think I needed approval from people. I would compare myself to my friends all the time. If they got better grades then me when we were in school, I would get upset with myself and told myself I wasn’t good enough. If they were anything better then me I would get upset and say to myself “why can’t I be more like them? Why can’t I be better?” I was very insecure and I really put myself down constantly worrying about how others saw me.  Proving myself to people did nothing for me. It just made me feel worse about myself. All the while, God was telling me, “My grace is sufficient for you! I’m here! Focus on me, you don’t need to worry about what others think about you. I love you!”
I’m so thankful for God’s grace. He didn’t judge me on how well I did in school. He’s gracious to me. He loves me. He’s constantly telling me that I don’t have to prove myself. That, with Him, I am good enough. That this world isn’t going to be the one to judge me when the end comes. That is such a relief. 
It took me a while to learn that. I don’t need human approval, as long as I have God’s. And he loves. He’ll never leave me or forsake me. He’s so gracious to me. He will never let me down. I’ve learned and am still learning that I just need to be myself. I don’t need to try to be like anyone else. I completely understand that and I have such freedom in that. But sometime’s it’s still hard. It’s a battle that I just have to be reminded to rely on God’s grace everyday.


Application: I will write out RELY ON GOD’S GRACE on a piece of paper and keep it in my box so that I’ll be reminded every day to do that. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

IBS 41 - Philippians 3:8

Philippians 3:8 “What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.” Losing all things to gain Christ, considering them garbage. That’s intense. That’s hard to do. It takes a lot of faith and trust to get to that point. It’s one step at a time. Growing up, I’d here this verse. “You have to get rid of everything to have Christ.” That scared me, I didn’t want to get rid of my baby dolls and nail polish. As I got older, I learned the deeper truth to this verse. It’s not just giving up items, it’s giving up bad habits, your wants, your rights. It’s giving it all to God to know Him better.  When God told me to do Potter’s Field, I said no. I didn’t want to give anything up. I wanted to keep control, doing what I wanted to do, following my own dreams, holding on to earthly possessions. As God worked on my heart, it got harder to say no....
Post a Comment
Read more

IBS 54 - 2 Timothy 2:2

2 Timothy 2:2 “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.” Entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. I desire to be someone who can be entrusted. I want people to know they can come to me with anything and trust me. There are always those people who you know you can’t trust with anything. I used to be one of those people. It might not have been that people knew they couldn’t trust me. But I knew they couldn’t. Whatever they told me, I’d go and tell my friends. I wasn’t someone who trustworthy or reliable.  I’ve changed though, thankfully. I’ve learned to be trustworthy. I’ve learned it’s better to have people trust you then not. I’ve learned the hurt and experienced the discipline of not being trustworthy. My eyes have been opened to the damage it causes when someone comes to me wanting to trust me and rely on me, and I turn around and gossip ab...
Post a Comment
Read more

IBS 70 - PSALM 51:8

Psalm 51:8 “Let me hear joy and gladness: let the bones you have crushed rejoice.” For a couple of years, people have talked to me about getting broken by God. About what it means for God to crush me. They’ve shared their stories of God breaking them and it always impacted me. Especially because they were so joyful, bringing praise to God so easily. I craved to have that type of joy and to be able to praise God the way they did. But I never wanted to go through the process of being broken. It’s a painful process that I didn’t want to have to endure. I said I wanted God to change me, but I wasn’t completely willing to change and to let Him break me. I didn’t want to surrender, and it became hard for me to praise God. I realized that my relationship with Christ wasn’t what it needed to be, but I wasn’t willing to let God do His work in me. My spirit craved to be broken and to draw near to God, but my flesh refused and fought God so hard.  Through the years, God put people ...
Post a Comment
Read more