The Object of our faith: Jesus

I often think if I want to know God better, I best pray harder, read scripture longer and do more work. I put the burden on myself to make it happen. However, I believe seeking to grow as a Christian is not the same as supplementing Christ with religiosity. That is a totally different gospel.

The gospel is...

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.

(Romans 3:23-27)

....

John Calvin writes about Rom. 4:5 in his Commentary on The Epistle to the Romans...

"Some haves stumbled at this sentence - "his faith is counted for righteousness," and have misapplied it, as though faith were in itself the cause of righteousness, and hence a meritorious act, and not the way and means of attaining righteousness...hence, what is believed, or the object of faith, is what is counted for righteousness."

....

As we seek to grow in our faith, may we not look inwardly to ourselves, but outwardly to Jesus, and what he has done for us all by grace. May we refocus our vision from trying to improve our faith, to the object of our faith itself, Jesus Christ. By humbly clinging to Christ in faith and embracing His saving work on the cross, we are freed from the need to functionally save ourselves by doing more. In other words, may we continue to trust we are completely loved, accepted and justified before God in Christ Jesus already. For now, we are freed to obey, not in order to improve, but in a spirit of thankfulness, because we are united with Christ. In essence, may we allow our finished justification to fuel our daily sanctification.

The verdict is already in...may we grow in this truth as we look to Christ for everything.