Did you experience so much for nothing?

The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? 3Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? 4Did you experience so much for nothing?

Did you experience so much for nothing?

Most of the time, being a Christian isn't very exciting. It's hard work. You have to be nice to people you don't like. You have to do things sometimes that aren't very fun. Sometimes you have to say things you don't want to say to people you don't want to say them to. There's something else though. Something else that makes you believe in the first place. That first spark that starts the Spirit burning within you. It's hard to remember that all the time though.

For me, it was that first six months after my conversion. The passion that made me read the New Testament 3 times in six months like it was an adventure novel. The feeling that God was paying attention to me, that I mattered to him and this mattered. It smoldered within my soul and kept burning long after the initial experience waned.

Did I experience it for nothing? Did that first experience come and then after that I had to learn to do things right and never get it wrong and always be perfect. No! No I didn't. I wasn't saved by grace so I could be justified by following the Law. Neither were any of you.

God loves you just the way you are. You already have his love and you don't have to earn it. You didn't experience that first blush of his love for nothing. Keep trying, keep trying as hard as you can, but don't lose faith in the one who loves you.