Philippians 3:9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.

In my last Inductive Bible Study, I talked about letting all things go and I believe all things would include striving to make myself better. In striving to do it on my own I believe it hinders God in the transforming work He is doing. Which leads me to this verse and where it begins I absolutely love. And be found in Him. If we in our finite efforts try to do things on our own we can only get so far. But if we're found in Him, Abiding in the Vine, we have a faithful Vinedresser that will care for us, watering us when we need it, with-hold water to allow our roots to search deeper for water thus making us stronger and prune us when the time is right to allow for more fruit to bare. A vine has no say in what the Vinedresser does, the vine just merely sinks it's roots in the ground and allows the Vinedresser to care for the vine. We as followers of Christ ought to be as submissive as these vines, and allow for God to do what needs to be done, but often times we fight back and not wanting certain things to be cut off. That is where the sacrifice comes in. Allowing God to trim away anything that is necessary, even when we think it's good and we have no clue why it's being cut away, we must trust that God knows what's best and count all things loss that we may gain Christ. In abiding, and knowing that the work is done by God, through our faith in Him we are made righteous. I truly have a hard time allowing God to do the work. I think somewhere deep down I feel that I am justified by my works instead of allowing my works be a byproduct of my thanksgiving of what God has done for me.

Application: Pray with my team about feeling like I'm justified by my works