An offering of life is here for you today. Accepting it or refusing it is completely within your power. You get to choose. What will you do with the offering of a day like today? Yes, this exact one … this one with it’s unique set of burdens and blessings, struggles and strengths that make today unlike any other day you’ve ever lived.

Every single day you get has the same offering, it’s the offering to show up and live your life as only you can do, and make it count. Do you accept the offer of this day? Will you live it for all its worth? Will you dwell deep in its moments? Will you pursue its potential and pause in its perfection?

Today. The day all the other days of your life have brought you to.
Today. The day all the coming days of your life will be impacted by.
Its here now.
And how you live it will outlive you.

I’ve been asked about my view on faith versus works. Are we here to just continually receive the grace of God to cover our shortcomings, or are we here to work and get better? Isn’t it both?

Ephesians 2: 8-9 “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.”

Your salvation doesn’t come through being good enough. There’s never a thing you could do to earn or be worthy of God’s saving grace which invites you into an eternity in Heaven with him after you live this life. BUT … there’s a whole lot you can do BECAUSE of God’s grace in this life right now.

And as a response to God’s offer, shouldn’t we? Shouldn’t we live differently because of his promise of eternity?

You may one day get dentures. Does that mean you don’t brush your teeth today?

You will one day live in a non-stop paradise of perfection, but does that mean you don’t show up and live today?

Just because your ticket to Heaven has been secured through your faith, doesn’t mean you’re excused from the work you were created to do here on Earth.

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God’s masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

You’re not here just to take up space and breath God’s air until it’s your time to graduate to Heaven. You’re not here to just get by on grace and call it good enough. You’re here to do something good with your life. The good God destined you for. That’s work!

Yes, your life is to be a combination of faith and works. It takes both.

You can declare God is your healer all day long, but if you’re laying in bed eating Big Macs and drinking Dr Pepper, healing may not come.

You can have all the faith in the world that God is a provider, but if you continually spend more than you make, honey provision isn’t going to magically show up and change your circumstances.

It is our FAITH in God that calls us to GOOD WORK. It is his grace that shows us good living.

Your life is meant to reflect the one living within you. Does it?
Your every day, ordinary living on a day like today, is supposed to point to Jesus. Does it?
Yeah, that takes work.

You can accept Jesus, skim your way through this life and make it into heaven. That’s a strong possibility and a story we often drift our way right into when we stop living with intention. But if you’re just drifting and living on nothing but grace to cover one bad choice after another, one mistake followed by another mistake, oh you’re still forgiven and still Heaven bound, but what if you’re missing the point of this one life you’ve been given to live?

Don’t miss it. Life is here for you today. Grace has been given. Now shouldn’t you get going and do something good with it?

Faith saved you, and its nothing you could have ever earned on your own. Now do something with this redeemed life of yours that impacts others.

Have you ever heard someone say “My life is better because you failed to live yours.” SAID NO ONE EVER.

Or how about “You living below your potential really showed me Jesus.” Nope. No one ever said that. And they won’t. EVER.

God’s grace has covered you, saved you, rescued you, redeemed you … now it’s up to you to live like it! And what you do in response to this grace, well that’s your WORK. Your work is what shows Jesus in a real and tangible way.

When you show up and live your life today with gusto and intention, you will make someone else’s life better too.

When you dare to dig deep and realize your God-given potential in this life, you show someone else what’s possible in their own life.

Now, don’t you think that’s why you’re here? Don’t you think that’s why God has given you more grace and another day to live? TO ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING WITH IT. Something that will honor him. Something that will point to him. Something that is part of the good works he prepared in advance for you to do.

It is by faith, not by works that you are saved. Now, because you are saved, you have work to do!

There’s nothing you could do to earn salvation, but there’s a whole lot you can be doing in response to it.