Verse: 2 Corinthians 3:7
Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?
Thoughts
Simple thought for us this morning: God has more for you than religion. Paul is writing her contrasting the New Covenant with the Old one. He's saying, if there was glory in the Old Covenant when God gave the 10 commandments to Moses (and there was!) how much more is there in the New one given through Jesus?? And the answer is - A LOT MORE.
Sometimes it is easy for all of us to forget that the New Covenant is one based on grace—that we have this gift of relationship and salvation by grace alone through faith. What does that mean? It means that whether you are having a good day or a bad day—whether you have been reading your bible a lot or not, or sinning a lot or not...God has grace for you. Your religious performance doesn't make you more acceptable to God.
This doesn't mean you just do whatever you want all the time. That would be taking advantage of the work of Jesus on the cross. But it does mean that we don't beat ourselves up for our sin. We receive forgiveness and move on. We receive his grace.
Romans 8:1-2 says, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death."
Remember this the next time you decide to beat yourself up and feel like you are a failure or a loser, or that you need to perform better for God to love you. That simply isn't true. You have been given grace by God that you can't earn or un-earn! And from that place of acceptance and love you'll be able to truly see your life change for the better.
Prayer
Show me your grace Lord and help me to not believe the lie that when I mess up you love me less!