Earn It

When I was a kid, I imagined that we worked all the time. (In reality, I have MANY more memories of playing with my siblings and friends than I do of chores and work days.) However, it was not uncommon, when the weather was mild (relatively speaking) and we had a day off from our "regular" duties, for us to tackle a big project as a family. Clean out a shed. Move a wood pile. Weed the lawn. And it was a family affair. My parents didn't send us to do a job that they weren't willing to do themselves, and they also didn't tackle the job and let us play around at whatever suited our fancy. (We wouldn't have chosen to clean out a shed, I can assure you!) They both set an example of hard work, as well as instructing us in the way to tackle a job and do it well. I am so thankful for their example and instruction as I now attempt to instill an appreciation for hard work in my own children. Work is good. When you work for something, you tend to appreciate it a bit more than if it is just handed to you. And having the desire to work for the things you have is healthy.

Last week I was sick-ish for most of the week. At the beginning of the week, I had fever, muscle aches, congestion. And I struggled with fatigue until the weekend. Even though my Crew are getting older, and are able to do a lot to help, things still fall behind when I'm not feeling well. So I was faced with a growing mountain of tasks that needed my attention. I felt like I had to DO something so that I could "earn" my rest. In the midst of that, I was reminded that I cannot earn the Lord's favor. I can't earn my salvation. I don't even have to earn my rest. God created me to need rest, and Christ earned my rest through His life of faithfulness. He earned my salvation by His death on the cross, where He bore God's wrath against my sin in my place. And He earned my favor with the Father because, through the faith He granted, the Father now sees me IN CHRIST. I can't earn what I need the most-- a relationship with God. But I'm SO thankful that Christ came to earn it for me.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:1-10