relying on you & God serving you?

Someone shared this little gem with me yesterday. Though I've pulled two quotes from it, it is definetly worth the short time it will take to read the whole thing. "Faith is transferring your trust from your own efforts to the efforts of Christ.

Tweet This: "You were relying on other things to make you acceptable, but now you consciously begin relying on what Jesus did for your acceptance with God. 

All you need is nothing.

On one hand, you may feel that you “need” him. Even though you may recognize that you have needs only God can meet, you must not try to use him to achieve your own ends. It is not possible to bargain with God. (I’ll do this if you will do that.”) That is not Christianity at all, but a form of magic or paganism in which you “appease” the cranky deity in exchange for a favor.

Tweet This: Are you getting into Christianity to serve God, or to get God to serve you? 

Those are two opposite motives and they result in two different religions.

You must come to God because

1) You owe it to him to give him your life (because he is your creator) and

2) You are deeply grateful to him for sacrificing his son (because he is your redeemer.)"

Tim Keller, How Can I Know God?