Receiving versus Achieving!

Do you realize that most people believe that one needs to work hard to achieve success in life? The Bible states very clearly that we are to reign in life through Jesus Christ just by receiving two things from Him: The abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness. Romans 5:17 says, “For if by one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the ONE, JESUS CHRIST!” 

God’s ways are contrary to man’s ways. Man thinks that for God to bless him he needs to deserve, earn, and merit God’s favor and blessings by his own efforts. Man thinks that God’s blessings are based on his performance and good works. However, this is not God’s way. His way is not about achieving but about receiving. He promised that when we receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness, we will reign in life. He did not say that when we achieve grace and our own righteousness, we will reign in life. But for some reason, many Christians continue to live based on a system of achievement!

The world’s system of success is built on the twin pillars of self-effort and diligence. There are always some “law” that you have to abide by and some method and technique that you have to keep on practicing before there can be any results. Most of the time, any result that you may get will start to fade once you cease to follow through with the prescribed methods and steps. We have been taught to focus so much on achieving, on doing, and on relying on our self-efforts that we are driven to “do, do, do” forgetting that Christianity is actually, “done, done, done”.

The world tells you that the more you do, the harder you work, and the more hours you put in, the more success you will achieve. The world’s way is to nag you to work harder, and to spend more time in the office working through the nights, weekends, and holidays.

But I’m here to tell you God wants you to stop achieving and to begin RECEIVING THE FAVOR, BLESSINGS AND GRACE OF GOD! When Christ hung on the cross over 2,000 years ago, He cried out, “It is finished!” Everything that you and I require to reign in life was accomplished at Calvary on our behalf. That’s why we call what Jesus did on the cross His “Finished work!” He finished, He completed it. It is DONE, His GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING YOU DESIRE IN LIFE, all you have to do is to stop trying to achieve it, because it is a gift, and JUST BEGIN TO RECEIVE IT!

Forever In His Grace!

Toinette Neube

Reference:

Prince, J. (1982).