Not by our Works!

Hello All,

 “For it is by grace that you were saved through faith, it is not ourselves, it is the gift of God, not by our works, so we shall not boast. “ Ephesians 2:8-9 In kindergarten, they always provided us with gold star stickers for the work that we completed on our assignments. Although, the intentions were good by the school staff this ingrained in me that I had to do good work to be worthy. In our society, we have it deeply ingrained in us that we are defined by our works. The first thing we ask a new person is what do they do for vocation? We seek validation/worthiness by the work we do. Whether it is vocationally, how we treat others, how we treat ourselves, how many vacations we take a year, and even how many works we have done for the kingdom. We are not defined by the mistakes we made. We let works define who we are, but this is far from the truth. Personally, it took me a while to fully unlearn that I am not defined by my works, but I am defined by His grace. I am not defined by my works but by my Fathers. Our faith in Him allows us this free gift of grace not by what we do! His works define us and all of His works are GOOD! Father, thank you so much for offering us this gift of grace! Thank you for defining me by your works and not my own! Thank you for CHOOSING  to die on the cross so that I CAN HAVE ACCESS TO THIS GIFT! Thank you for your everlasting love Father! We cannot ever thank you enough for your goodness! Thank you Lord! In Jesus name. Amen. 🙏🏽