Finished.

"It is finished was his cry,
Now in heaven, exalted high
Hallelujah! What a Savior!"

I've been dwelling on that phrase "It is finished," because it is. It is today, tomorrow, and forever, until we die or he calls us home.
It is finished, so we put down your best efforts and intentions because Jesus did it all. He finished it.
We can rest.

The only work that should be done is that restlessness from the Holy Spirit that we feel, moving us on a path so sweet that only Jesus himself could be the one who paved it. And this onward march down this sweetly paved path is NOT one that is taken to add anything to our salvation. It is NOT one that is taken to keep us in God's family. It is one that is spurred on by the deep understanding that Jesus is enough.

Jesus + NOTHING = everything by Tullian Tchividjian

That is the title of the book I'm currently reading. Let me tell you, God gives us our dose of daily bread but sometimes it tastes so sweet that He has to be feeding us chocolate cake instead. It's those quiet times you have where you read and stop and marvel at our gloriously wonderful God and Savior.

This book is reminding me the character of God and the life and resurrection of Jesus. I feel as if I've put on new eyes.
The book speaks on the fact that we try to put something else behind our Savior to make salvation true: Jesus + our efforts, Jesus + community, Jesus + mission trips, Jesus + "fill in the blank."
We are trying to add something to an already completed Gospel. When the unwavering truth is: Jesus stands alone! And true obedience comes not out of our efforts to give back to God what He has given us, but when we understand that grace is a freely given gift. Our true obedience stems from our deeper understanding that Jesus is enough. He is sufficient. He stands alone. He is the image of God. Through him and by him and for him were ALL things created.
The fullness of God was in Jesus Christ, therefore, he is everything! Nothing can be added to him.
And these "liberating truths of the gospel are meant to lead us to a liberated life of action, of stepping forth in faith and doing the good works he directs and enables us to do" (pg 152).
Not in order to find favor in God. Not in order to walk to Jesus and receive salvation, but because Jesus walked to us and now we "walk IN him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving." Colossians 2:6-7

Therefore, "the gospel frees us to work and live from the secure basis of faith, not fear. We obey from the secure basis of grace, not guilt." (pg 141)
He has brought us out of death into life. We are alive in him. We are free in him. And
"because Jesus was strong for me, I was free to be weak;
because Jesus won for me, I was free to lose;
because Jesus was someone, I was free to be no one;
because Jesus was extraordinary, I was free to be ordinary;
because Jesus succeeded for me, I was free to fail." (pg 24)

I feel today. And I am finally able to complete that statement.

I feel free.