"Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts." Colossians 3:16

3.16 is a small group for the older girls of Yoof which meets on a 

Sunday evening at 7pm in the Yoof room. 

How would you describe your faith? What words would you use to describe what it means to live as a follower of Jesus? Saved? Going to Heaven, not Hell? Lives a different life, a “good” one? Read the bible and pray? Tell others about Jesus? What about “Freedom” or “Liberty”? 

It is probably quite far down the list, if it appears on it at all yet that is what Christ promises us. It’s what separates us from those who don’t know Jesus. It is the hallmark of the Christian faith; that Christ died so that we might live and live life to the full with no condemnation.

Free from our old life. 

Free from death. 

Free from sin. 

Free to live in the knowledge that God loves me just as I am, because I have accepted Christ in to my heart. 

All the constraints, expectations and pressures of the life round about us do not define us for we are free from them.

However in our lives today, there is so much emphasis on accomplishments. How well you do at school, how you look, the kind of clothes you wear, who you hang around with, whether you have a boyfriend or not...the list is endless. The same can be applied to our spiritual lives, that we have this nagging feeling of “could do better.” Usually, it’s not as simple as one of these things being the case, but a messy combination of all these factors and this will inevitably affect the way we relate to God and what we believe about ourselves and our identity before God.

With the best will in the world, we try harder to live for God. We commit to do better, perform better, live better for Him. By doing so we make a big mistake, instead of saying “I will receive grace” we begin to make lists of how we can impress God more and rules to live by: I will read the bible everyday. I will pray for an hour each day. I will be nice to everyone I meet. . Before you know it, our faith boils down to a checklist and as soon as we break away from this list, we start to feel “distant” or “unconnected” with God. Instead of seeing these things as a joy, they become a chore to gain merit and to feel better about ourselves. 

So how do we live this life of faith? By receiving grace.

But what is it to live by grace? Why does God bother? Does He bother at all? Why do we need it in the first place? Is sin actually that serious? These are just some of the questions we hope to look at over the next few weeks.

Study Materials

(Courtesy of Glasgow Navs - go to www.glasgownavs.org for more resources)