For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

I have been reading a book by Jen Hatmaker. As a christian writer she is uniquely different. I like her fresh perspective, but the sarcasm caught me off guard. Don't let that stop you from reading any of her books, because she will catch you by surprise, and say some deep truths to make you think.

The book is called,"Of mess and Moxie- wrangling delight out of this wild and glorious life."In chapter 20 she says that people should never put others above Jesus."What is not to love about a guy who pulled children onto his lap and saved a failing party and touched the untouchables and told off the religious elite? I have to agree with her. 

Jen shares how her community worked very hard to get rid of celebrity status, and coined the phrase, fangirl. "Fangirl Jesus, and fangirl your friends," she writes. "Go gaga over all your people, and over value them, and over love them." Her point is that we can spend so much energy ya-yaing over those whom we don't even know, or will ever meet in our life-time.

Put your energy into loving Jesus, loving those he has given you whether that means family, friends, or neighbors. Be the love that you want to receive. Loving Jesus is easy as we see from our verse.

Don't let your boast be of anyone other than Him. It is by grace that anyone is alive, making a difference or able to do anything that matters. God is good. We don't need to add any superlatives to this, like very, or really. He stands alone in who he is. The goodness of God is in a class all by itself. 

He defines what is good, pure and right. Our vain strivings at goodness can't compete with the one and only, Holy lamb of God. Accept the grace of God as it is, a gift.