What goals did you make for 2016? What New Year’s resolutions did you make? Did you look at how you can serve better God this year?
This month we’ll be looking closer at spiritual gifts and how they should be used. First though, we need to look at a question many people ask themselves.
“Did God mess up when He made me?”
No, sweet child. No, precious parent. God loves you and made you just the way He wants you. He put everything you need inside of you so you can live for Him, serve Him, love other people, and do the work God wants you do to.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Ephesians 2:10 (NASB)
God loves you so much, that He thinks of you countless times a day. In fact, God loves you so much that He even knows how many hairs are on your head. If you keep shedding hair like I do, you’ll know it is not an easy task to know how much hair you have or have lost! Still, God loves you enough to keep track of even that little thing. Look how much God loves you.
Lord, you have tested me,
so you know all about me.
You know when I sit down and when I get up.
You know my thoughts from far away.
You know where I go and where I lie down.
You know everything I do.
Lord, you know what I want to say,
even before the words leave my mouth.
You are all around me—in front of me and behind me.
I feel your hand on my shoulder.
I am amazed at what you know;
it is too much for me to understand.
Your Spirit is everywhere I go.
I cannot escape your presence.Psalm 139:1-7 (ERV)
You could see my bones grow as my body took shape,
hidden in my mother’s womb.
You could see my body grow each passing day.
You listed all my parts, and not one of them was missing.
Your thoughts are beyond my understanding.
They cannot be measured!
If I could count them, they would be more than all the grains of sand.
But when I finished, I would have just begun.Psalm 139:15-18 (ERV)
Never doubt how much God loves you.
How much does God love you?
Good question. See for yourself.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 (NIV)
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:6-8 (NIV)
Did you catch that? We were helpless. We were powerless. That is because of sin. But God loved us enough to provide a way for us to still be in a relationship with Him and live forever.
Here’s the deal. God made everything and everyone, so He makes the rules (Colossians 1:16-17; John 1:1-3) . When we break those rules, we sin. The Bible describes this as falling short of God’s perfect standard (Romans 3:23). I’m not perfect. Are you?
Sin, breaking the rules, has consequences. Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death.” But here’s the good news. Romans 6:23 goes on to say, “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (NIV).
Jesus came to earth, lived a perfect life, and died on the cross to pay for our sins (1 Peter 1:18-19). He didn’t stay dead, though. On the third day, Jesus came back to life again! He still lives today, in His body, up in heaven (Acts 1:9-11). Here is how we can be saved.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6 (ESV)
From that time on Jesus began to preach. “Turn away from your sins!” he said. “The kingdom of heaven has come near.”
Matthew 4:17 (NIRV)
Say with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord.” Believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. Then you will be saved. With your heart you believe and are made right with God. With your mouth you say what you believe. And so you are saved.
Romans 10:9-10 (NIRV)
Is this something you have done? If not, what is stopping you from doing it today? Learn more in this video.
Still not sure, pray and ask God to teach you more about Him. Ask God to show you what is true. He will (Matthew 7:7-8).
This post is part of a Titus 2 Tuesday Linkup Party hosted by Cornerstone Confessions. 
