Reading your Bible for today August 4

August 4: Ephesians 2:1-10

KJV Key Verse: Ephesians 2:8
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Devotion:
How many of us boast about the things we have achieved? How many of us exaggerate those things over and over again to make them sound even better than before? Most, if not all, of us have done so time and time again. This is what God does not want to happen about His gospel message. He does not want people to exaggerate and make it sound so much greater than it is because the truth is enough!

We can make up all the stories we like, but having a single story about our faith and how Christ backs up our story is even more precious and wonderful than the stories we make. God allowed Christ to come and fulfil the gospel story to show us His love is perfect and all-encompassing. Yes we do have to get to know it, get to know Him and get to admit to our faults before we can live with Him; but it is all worth it.

That means admitting to the things we have done wrong, admitting to the things we don’t want to admit to because it makes us sound bad. But if God is willing to forgive us just because we are truly sorry, then why do we hold on to those lies? Because, somehow, we think those lies will get us out of trouble – but what ends up happening is those same lies land us in more trouble each time they come out!

God would like us to put them behind us and live with Him in truth and in love. He does not want us to continue boasting about the things we do but rather to boast about how we have been forgiven because of His ultimate love for us. Yes it is scary to admit we have failed and none of us like to be failures, but unless we are willing to take that first step with Him then we are destined to live in our failures forever. Step out of the failures, step out of the lies, step out of the pride and live with Christ in forgiveness!

Points to Ponder:
What do you hang on to?

When will you give it up to God?