| | A tiny look at grace... In my prayer group, all of us have kids. The older boys are going through a period of doubt (mine isn't at that stage yet but I fully expect it or something like it when he reaches his older teen years!). Not doubt in God so much, but doubt in their ability to measure up to what they feel God wants them to be. Entering into the mindset of "If I do X, then God will love me more" or "If I do Y, then I'll be closer to being a 'good' Christian". I was raised Catholic, so I really understand the need to "do" something to feel like you have checked something off a list that will give you "Heaven points". In the Catholic church, the sacraments *can* feel very much like something you have to do OR ELSE...My mom was raised in a Catholic school that told her if she didn't go to Mass on Sunday and take communion and then died during the following week, she was going to hell. Period. Sort of a superstitious type way of looking at it if you ask me- ritual for ritual's sake, motivated solely by fear. (one other side note, though, is that it really depends on the priest doing the teaching. There are priests- my priest growing up was one- who inspire you to want to do the sacraments out of a love for God and what He's done for you through sending His Son, and not out of a fear of what will happen if you don't take part, which I feel is a beautiful thing and more what the sacrements were intended to be...but I digress). Phew. Okay, so as I was praying for these boys (who are all truly the kinds of sons you wish you had) I was struck with one thought- the biggest names in Christianity I can think of, The Apostle Paul, Martin Luther, The Wesley Brothers, Billy Graham- are just as far away from God's perfection as I am, in the sense that there is no linear path toward God that we travel down reaching ever closer by our works. What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." (Romans 3:9-12) What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; But Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone." (Romans 9:30-32) It blows my mind, because my humanity then wants to know, "Well, then, WHY on earth does God love me" if I am so stinky inside? I can't answer that but I can give an analogy- my best image is a ruler- 12 inches. I may make up the first teensy marking on the ruler- a micron maybe. But through my faith in Jesus, and the grace that gives me I am a full 12 inches. I CAN NOT BUY PLATFORM SHOES TO MAKE MYSELF ANY TALLER!! But that's okay, because I don't *have* to be in order to be saved. So from that, I guess I can conclude that I need to do the works, but because of a love and gratitude for God and all He's done for me, and realize that there isn't a scoreboard of works somewhere that determines the "strength" of our salvation or whether or not it will "stick". My salvation is secure through my faith in Christ's death and resurrection. Period. We will be rewarded in Heaven for the things we do on earth (there are many verses about Heavenly rewards), but I firmly believe that it's the motivation behind the works is the most important aspect and the litmus test we should use- are we doing good works simply to gain points or have people notice us? Or are we doing them as an outreach of our love for God? |
