Earning the favor of God

In my conversations with a young man it became clear that he was deeply religious, a good guy who wanted to please God. He had made a long list rules that must be kept if he were to be a ‘good Christian.’  His ‘faith’ was about fear, not love. If he was not ‘good enough,’ he was convinced that bad things would happen to him, that God would judge him.  The most tragic revelation was that he had no real assurance that Heaven was his eternal home.  He knew the story of Christ and the Cross and believed it, but only in part it seems. His focus was on his own perfection, not on the gift of grace.

John is surely not the first person, nor will he be the last, to confuse living a holy life with loving God.  We are conditioned by cause and effect, taught that we earn rewards by performing well.  God’s grace challenges what know ‘must be true!’  Paul calls us to the real Truth about knowing God. "Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. … For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die." (Galatians 2:16-21, NLT)

That last line captivates me. If I could keep enough rules, govern my behaviors, be good enough on my own for God to accept me, then the Crucifixion is meaningless.  Something happens to people who come to Christ too often.  They are desperate in their guilt, feel ashamed, and have no reason to believe that God loves them.  The Spirit reveals God’s love to them, they see the grace of the Cross and accept the gift of God. Then, gradually, as the ugliness of their failures fade, their focus slips from what God does to what they do.  Loving Jesus becomes ‘going to church, not cursing, giving offerings, governing lust …’  it is an ever-lengthening list. Paul challenges that kind of thinking with a sharp rebuke. "Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing? Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?" (Galatians 3:3-5, NIV)

Do some abuse this message and live carelessly in disobedience? Yes, they do.  In response we are tempted to turn to religion and damnation in the hope that we might ‘scare the Hell out of them.’  It works, for a while!  Fear is a very effective motivation in the short term.  Love, however, is what actually changes our hearts. We can never will ourselves to true holiness, never put enough restrictions on our hearts to become perfect. The miracle of grace will make us joyful Christians and the Spirit will lead us to genuine goodness.  The Bible says that "Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you. … My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness." (Galatians 5:1, 16, The Message)

Are you trying hard to please God, Christian?  That’s a great desire.

But, how are you attempting it?   IF you depend on rules, accountability, shame, guilt, or fear you will slip into ‘the gospel of sin management.’ (Dallas Willard’s phrase) You will never live freely, never know the real assurance of loving acceptance that is the birthright of those who are God’s children by faith. 

Look to Jesus!  Set your hope totally on Him. Abandon all hope that you will ever be ‘good enough for God’ on your own.

And the life of the Spirit will fill you, accompanied by the evidence of His gift of grace.

Meditate for a few moments on the Message paraphrase of this summation of the Gospel.  Then, go live freely in Christ Jesus!

"But what happens when we live God’s way?
He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity.

We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way.

Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.

Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives.

That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original."

(Galatians 5:22-26, The Message)

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I Stand Amazed (My Savior's Love)

I stand amazed in the presence

Of Jesus the Nazarene,

And wonder how He could love me,

A sinner condemned unclean?

He took my sins and my sorrows

He made them His very own.

He bore the burden to Calvary

And suffered and died alone.

When with the ransomed in glory

His face I at last shall see,

'Twill be my joy through the ages

To sing of His love for me.

How marvelous, how wonderful,

And my song shall ever be!

How marvelous, how wonderful,

Is my Savior's love for me!

Charles Hutchinson Gabriel

© Words: Public Domain