Never Forget

And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."  Mark 2:17

I ready recently that one of the signs that you are growing grace is that it only takes minutes not days or weeks to realize that you have slipped back into works righteousness.  As believers, we are to aspire to holiness but as we live out who we are in Christ, we must never forget that who we are is only because we are in Christ.  But too often we forget and rest in our works rather than Christ.  We forget because religion is the natural inclination of our heart.  Religion is what we do to earn favor with God.  But being a Christian is not about what we do but what Christ has done.

We can come to the place where we are trusting in our goodness rather than his.  When we do, we don't need Christ and in fact we are out of fellowship with Him.  Martin Luther said,

Beware of aspiring to such purity that you will not wish to be looked upon as a sinner, or to be one.  For Christ dwells only in sinners.  On this account he descended from heaven, where he dwelt among the righteous, to dwell among sinners.

I have to always speak to myself the words of the Apostle Paul, "By the Grace of God, I am what I am."  Any righteousness that I attain, is not but Christ.  It is by His grace.  I am a sinner saved by grace.  By His grace, I am becoming as holy as a saved sinner can be.  Think about it.