Magical Rocks

"Don't just say to each other, 'We're safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.' That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones." 

Matthew 3:9

John the Baptist (a dude in the Bible) warned the religious leaders of his day not to get caught up in pride because of their heritage. God could have made more "children of Abraham" from the very rocks around them.

Sometimes we tie our personal worth to what we can do, as well. We only feel good about ourselves if we are doing certain things. We read the bible and hear Christian teachings on what Christians should be doing. If we aren't doing these things, or we really really don't want to, we begin to question our very identity. "Am I really a Christian?"

The truth is that God doesn't need us to do what we do. He's God. He can heal people, feed the hungry and teach the truth to people with the very stones around us. The truth about who we are, the answer to this question "who am I", and the root of our faith that everything else grows out of - is that we are simply loved. God just loves you. That's who you are. Your worth is determined by what God paid for you, and what He paid for you was with His son's life here on Earth. Look at the life of Jesus and what He subjected Himself to, and think about what it would mean if this was for your sake. It was done out of love for you, and it was done to restore you to a relationship with Him. It didn't make you a part of His business plan. It was just His plan to bring you home, and to live with you.

God doesn't want us to try and earn His approval with works. People tried that for the entirety of the Old Testament and we still needed a new Covenant. This new Covenant is that you are considered to be as perfect as Jesus, because He stepped in and took the wrath of God upon himself, for what you deserved. Getting to know this, getting to know Him and how much He unconditionally loves you, is the primary purpose of God in your life right now.

When we get confused and prideful, thinking that God is in this for what we can do for Him - we're missing the point. If you are a Christian reading this, you are a child of God adopted in to His family because He cares for you that much. You're free from everything that enslaved you beforehand, and you have the privilege of being able to take part in what God is doing here on Earth because He lives inside of you now, and no one can take that from you.

This verse has become quite personal to me, because I frequently find myself feeling not OK if I'm not doing anything. A friend suggested to me once that busyness can be a tool used to distract us from the truth. I think he's right about that. If I spend a day from morning until evening doing "stuff" that seems like it's what Christians "should" be doing, or if I spend the whole day inside doing nothing - God's love for me does not change. I think getting to know Him and to know who He's made me to be is the root of the rest of it. It's the most important thing. I don't save anyone, and I walk on a lot of rocks that God could use instead of me to do things. The gospel message is that you can't do anything to save yourself, but you do have the opportunity by the mercy of God to be saved and live life with Him. And the message is that, if you saw it for what it really is, you would really, really want to. You don't have to. You'd just really want to.

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 

Matthew 13:44