Door of Joy

I have been trying to read this morning from Romans 2-4.(It is hard when you have two little boys coming to you and wanting your undivided attention.) There have been so many things that I have been struggling with, since I turned my life over to Christ. James, "Faith without works is dead" this statement confuses me when I also hear that you cannot earn your salvation.

I think that I may finally understand it, a little better, this morning. In Romans it speaks a lot about faith, faith in Christ is what saves you. In doing good, you show what is in your heart. It is the same if you choose to continually do wrong. It is the heart. Do you love him, you will obey him.

Does this mean that you will get everything right? No, no one is perfect. What is your heart saying? If you are lost in a dark world and surrounded by sin, if you keep asking God to help you, if you are continually reaching out to him, he will be patient with you and help you get out of the world, you have chosen. This is not the life that he chose for you. He had nothing to do with it, you chose it yourself, when you chose sin over God. He will, however, be patient with you and help to guide you to joy. This is the life he desires for everyone, to find joy in him.

Romans 2:1-4, "When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you do these very same things...Can't you see how kind he has been in giving you time to turn form your sin?" OH, I see how patient he was with me. How, I can condemn myself, in that time of sin, but how patient, he was. He did not want me to die in that life, because how sad I truly was. He wanted me to have joy. How good it feels to live a life with Christ and how sad it is apart from him.

If you are calling to him, if your heart is saying, "Please God help me." He will be patient with you, while you find the door. He has given you a door. He has made a way for you to find joy. Do you see the door? Open it! Find the joy.

Romans 3:20-31, "For no one can ever be made right in God's sight by doing what his law commands. For the more we know God's law, the clearer it becomes that we aren't obeying it.....For God sent Jesus to take the punishment four our sins and to satisfy God's anger against us....Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on our good deeds. It is based on our faith. So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law....He makes people right with himself only by faith...only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law."

Romans 4:4-8, "people are declared righteous because of their faith, not because of their work...
.

Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven,

whose sins are put out of sight.

Yes, what joy for those

whose sin is no longer counted against them by the Lord."

.

The more you know, the more you want to please God, with your actions. This is to show him that you love him. It is not to earn your salvation. How thankful I am, I finally have joy. I thank my Lord. He was patient with me, while I looked for, and found, the door.