excerpt from "God's New Creation" or "Freedom From..."
That, of course, is the problem for many people today. They don’t understand the value of the cross. For many, the cross is only a nice story with a happy ending (the resurrection). What they don’t realize is that “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them” (2 Corinthians 5:19). The cross made it possible for God to accept us as holy and righteous in His sight. The cross made it possible for God to be proud of everyone who comes to Him by faith in Christ Jesus.
My friends, boast about the cross. Boast about what God has done for you in Christ. Don’t boast about what you have done for Christ. Don’t boast about your own achievements, for in and of themselves, they are meaningless.
Galatians 6:15 puts it plainly (now imagine this in Paul’s bold handwriting) Can’t you see the central issue in all this? It is not what you and I do – submit to circumcision, reject circumcision. It is what God is doing, and he is creating something totally new, a free life!”
The outward trappings of success mean nothing. It is only what God is doing on the inside that counts.
If you have put your faith in Christ, He is beginning to change you from the inside out. He is making you into a new creation. So boast about what God is doing inside you, not about what you are doing on the outside.
Then you will find peace. Then you will find a deep sense of satisfaction and contentment.
Jew and Gentile alike can find God’s peace and mercy, if they look to the cross and not themselves. Everyone can find that deep sense of satisfaction, if they stop trying to impress others with themselves and start impressing themselves with what God is doing in their lives.
Pastor Lorah Houser Jankord 
July 4, 2010
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