Can't earn it

We cannot earn God’s approval. We try. But we can’t.
And that’s the point.

I have been thinking these last few days about something that I thought about back when I was getting ready to move here to Bolivia as a missionary.

And the thought is that GOD IS NOT GOING TO LOVE ME MORE AND HE IS NOT GOING TO LOVE ME LESS.

Just let that sink in a little bit. There is nothing that you or I can do to make God love us more or love us less. His love for us is massive and it is constant and unchangeable.

I came face to face with this truth when I got on the plane to come to Bolivia as a missionary. I came here to serve God because I love Him and because of what He has done in my life. Not because He is going to love me more and give me a gold missionary star.

A lot of Christians are trying to “just be good enough” to win God’s favor. We try to pray enough, read the Bible enough, go to church enough and serve Him enough so that God will say, “Wow. Look at how good and disciplined they are.”

I am not saying that these things are bad. In fact that are essential for every Christian. I am just asking, “What is our motivation for reading, praying, going to church and serving?” Is it so God sees us and rewards us? Or is it because we love Him and we can’t help but do those things?

Sometimes we want to serve and accomplish things because we are selfish and egotistical. We want to say, “Look what I did.” We might not say it out loud but our spirit inside thinks it.

I am guilty of this. I wonder sometimes about my motivation for sharing with you all that we are doing here in Bolivia. Is it really to share the amazing things that God is doing in our lives or is it just a tool to raise more funds?

Again. Raising funds is not bad either. In fact, it is vital. What I am talking about here is our motivation.

Are we trying to DO things like read, pray, go to church and serve because we think that that is the formula to get into a relationship with God or do we DO all of those things BECAUSE WE ARE ALREADY in relationship with Him.

Let’s just think about it…why do we do what we do? As a great movie quote from “Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade” put it…is what you do for His glory or for Yours?

Service to God wherever we live and whatever we do should flow as a natural result of our love relationship with Him. We should love God so much and be so thankful and grateful for what He has done for us that we can’t help but serve Him.