I don’t know about you, but I seem to get things right for a while, then I stray. I start strong, then I just stop. I mean well, then I just fizzle. I’m up, then I’m down. I’m all in, then I’m tip toeing my way out. It’s as if I have this inner struggle that continually nags at me.

And I do. I really do. It’s called sin. Within me is sin and it causes me to fall short.

And honey, I don’t care how good you look on the outside, you have sin on the inside too. There’s a part of you that never measures up. A piece of you that battles on the inside that continually keeps you from doing everything right.

It’s why we struggle. It’s why we stray. It’s why we suffer.

Our legal relationship with God always leaves us failing. We simply can’t clean ourselves up and keep ourselves clean long enough to meet the standards of sinless. My works will never be good enough. And that is why God replaced a legal relationship with a pouring out of his grace. Grace covers this. Grace fills the gaps and makes up the distance for our shortcomings.

God extends his invitation of grace to you every day of your life. Honey, there’s grace for that. There’s grace for that regret. There’s grace for that shame. There’s grace for that failure. There’s grace for that mistake. And his grace is like a soothing oil that anoints our head.

Did you know that a shepherd will care for his sheep by pouring an oil over their heads that keeps the flies away? Flies will attack a sheep’s head and face so aggressively that they will literally beat their heads against a rock to try and get relief from the flies. But the shepherd’s oil brings relief and protection from the nagging flies. So that’s what David means when he writes in Psalm 23:5, “He anoints my head with oil.”

His oil is a grace that relieves us and protects us. All the things that bother us and leave us beating our own head are washed away with his offering of grace.

And make no mistake, he is offering that oil of grace to YOU. To anoint means to choose and bless. God has chosen YOU. His invitation is for you. He sees what has been bothering you. He knows how the enemy has been attacking. He is aware of your suffering. Now, let him anoint your head with the oil of his grace.

There’s absolutely nothing you have to do to prove yourself good enough to receive his grace. There’s nothing you have to do to be worthy of this oil. The only thing the sheep has to do to be saved by their shepherd is to quit running and let the shepherd rescue them. Wow – isn’t it the same for us. Jesus calls himself our good shepherd. We are his sheep. Just stop running. Let him rescue you.

It is your belief in Jesus that makes you worthy. It is your faith in the son of God that makes you good enough. Absolutely nothing else. There’s not a single work you could do that would be good enough to earn you righteousness. You will only be made right with God by faith in Jesus. (Anyone else a people pleaser and performer? Anyone else always trying to be good enough?)

Romans 3:22, “We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.”

That’s right – no matter who you are, no matter what you’ve done, no matter how many times you’ve messed this thing up, your faith in Jesus makes you right with God. But also the flip side of that coin. No matter how good you’ve been, no matter what good works you have done, you are only made right with God by your faith in Jesus. No matter who you are – it’s only Jesus.

Verse 25 says, “People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood.” Is that what you believe? Do you really believe Jesus was the son of God and he died on that cross as a substitute sacrifice to cover your sins? If that is what you believe, then your faith alone has made you right with God.

Isn’t that absolutely incredible?

No, you don’t deserve it. No, you can never be good enough to earn that. But that’s the oil of grace anointing your head, Sis. Come in close and receive it.

Romans chapter 4 gives us the example of Abraham. Abraham was a man who fully trusted in and obeyed God. His amazing story is found in the Old Testament. Scripture says God was pleased with Abraham. He became very prosperous because he was obedient to God’s requests, even when they didn’t make sense to him. Now, over 2,500 years after the life of Abraham, he was still being talked about. His obedience had almost become idolized. If there was a standard of being good enough, it had become the example of Abraham.

But Paul writes it wasn’t Abraham’s deeds or works that made him acceptable to God – it was only his faith. Chapter 4, verses 1-3, “What did Abraham discover about being made right with God? If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God’s way. For the Scriptures tell us, ‘Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”

And that my friends is the best new you will hear all day. You could never do enough good works today to be considered righteous. There’s nothing you could give and nothing you could accomplish that would make you righteous in the sight of God. No amount of obedience – no amount of sacrifice. You simply can’t. But today, you will be counted as righteous solely because of your faith.

Faith – a belief in Jesus and the sacrifice of his life for yours. That faith will have you counted as righteous.

Notice the word “counted”, it means to credit, to deposit. This is an accounting term. In accounting, you have credits and debits. Credits are the things that increase your account. Debits are the things that reduce your account. Our sin is a debit to our account. It takes away from us. However, God pours an endless credit into our account because of our faith.

My sister, your account has been credited with righteousness. Everything needed to make you right with God is deposited into your account through your faith in Jesus. You will never come up short. You will never be lacking. You will never be over-drawn. You have been COUNTED as righteous solely because of your faith.

Now here’s what that doesn’t say – that doesn’t say that anyone else counted Abraham as righteous. It doesn’t say that everyone in his family thought he was right or supported him. It doesn’t say that everyone was nice to him because he was counted as righteous. No, GOD counted him as righteous.

I’ve had to check myself recently – am I more concerned with others counting me as right, or God? Am I wrapped up in people-pleasing and having everyone like me, or am I confident in being made right with God? Do I need to be made right with everyone else to be happy? Am I beating my head against the wall (again back to the sheep and those pesky flies), or am I allowing the anointing of my head with the oil of grace?

Now, something amazing happens when we receive that anointing of grace over our lives and we accept the invitation to be made right with God through our faith. Do you know what happens?

GOD MEETS US RIGHT WHERE WE ARE AND STARTS WORKING IN US!

There’s an order and a process. Faith in Jesus- counted as righteous – change begins within.

Philippians 3:13, “God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” Yes, God goes to work IN us and starts changing our hearts. He changes our priorities. He changes our thoughts. He changes our actions. He changes our desires.

With this work of God happening within us as a result of our faith in Jesus, we begin changing. Our old habits become undesirable to us. What we used to do is no longer what we want to do. With these changed desires and the power to do what pleases God, our lives go from off track to in alignment with God’s will. That’s how it happens.

God COUNTS us as righteous, even when we aren’t. Then he goes to work inside us to change us until we are naturally DOING what is right. And it all begins with our faith in Jesus and what he has done for us.

Just start there. Believe it. Now, let God go to work!

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