Quiet Saturday morning at Panera...

So I'm reading a piece right now by a guy named Francis de Sales. He was a Catholic priest back in the late 1500's and early 1600's. In this piece he's talking about the difference between receiving God's grace, performing charitable acts and living in true devotion to God. New thoughts for me.
As he describes it, grace is like a spiritual leigh that is placed around our neck that God sees whenever He interacts with us. It enables us to continue a relationship with God. It's the Holy Spirit that comes inside of us that God sees when I sin. It satisfies His punishment against my sins. When I ask forgiveness of my sins and for God to come inside me and take over my heart and mind, God's grace is now placed around my heart.
This however, doesn't ensure that my actions are going to change right now. The longer I remain with Him and am changed day by day, something else begins to happen in me. My desires begin to change. My selfishness begins to be pealed away and I now start having a desire to do really nice, loving things for people. He likens it to birds. Some birds never fly. They remain on the ground their whole lives, yet they're still birds. The believer that remains on the ground is the believer that remains in grace and never moves forward in obedience. The believer that allows God to begin changing them and starts living in charity is like a hen or a wild turkey. They can fly short distances. But they are very awkward and they don't stay up very long. Their charitable actions are infrequent. Sometimes much inner fighting gets them there. However, the more we yield to God and live in obedience, the more we'll be like birds that soar in our actions. These people plan their loving actions. They do things frequently and promptly. Oftentimes before they are asked for help.
He also says that true, godly devotion is like sugar to the bitterness of discipline. God disciplines us often. And more times than not, it isn't pleasant because discipline isn't fun. But, devotion makes us want to endure discipline to grow closer to God. It tells us how to endure problems. It receives pleasure and pain the same. Devoted disciples of Jesus are full of humility and accept all things equally. Their purpose is to please God above all else. This is their motive in all they do. From getting up in the morning, eating, working, with family, with friends, etc.
As I was reading this, I think I'm somewhere in the category of charity. God is directing me toward devotion. Not there yet. It's still tough, oftentimes, to serve through my self-centeredness. It's still quite strong. He's still working, very hard actually. And I'm entering areas of obedience that I've never done before. But still a long ways to go. Where are you? What category are you in? Keep asking Him to move you along toward true devotion. It's better than where we're all at!