My morning reading yesterday included a verse that sums up the entire Bible:
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Paul, Ephesians 2:8, ESV
I chose Christianity so that I could be saved………from myself. If you don’t need to be saved…….if you don’t want to be saved………this post may not resonate for you. As for me…….if I look back through my life and honestly weigh my actions against God’s expectations……I have come up short……sometimes only once…….usually repeatedly. Measured against God’s expectations……..my life is a hot mess.
Love God………fail.
Love my fellow man…….fail
Don’t lie…….fail
Don’t steal…….fail
Don’t murder…….pass
Sex is for husbands and wives……fail
Honor your mother and father……..C+
Don’t covet……fail
Rest on Sunday……fail
God has set the bar pretty high. Most of us are satisfied with setting the bar of our expectations much lower. The fact is that we conveniently set our expectations for our own behaviour right about where we are. We are kind……then we are unkind…….then we tell ourselves that……on average……we are “a good person”……..at least that we are good enough.
But good enough…….for what?
You can make a solid case that your behaviour is good enough for this world……for this culture. Your behavior might even be in the top 10%…….the top 10% of a culture that aborts 3000 innocent children every day in the US……..the top 10% of a culture that tells your son that he can walk naked into a girls locker room if he feels like it…….the top 10% of a culture that considers serial killing on prime time TV a legitimate form of entertainment.
You get the point. The bar that has been set by our culture is very low……..and it is getting lower every day.
If paradise is real…….and if you get to set the standards…..you are going to be just fine.
But in your heart…..you know……that your definition of “good” is not legitimate……any more than mine is. In your heart……you know……that……just like me…….you are a hot mess……..that you don’t measure up to God’s expectations.
And that is why Christianity works.
We will be judged…….against God’s standard…….not against ours………not against the standard of “the culture”.
And you will fall short.
And I will fall short.
Enter the 2 pillars of Christianity……grace and faith.
Grace is God’s cosmic “get out of jail free” card. God gives you eternity in a paradise that he has created…….even though you are a hot mess…….even though you don’t deserve it.
Faith is your recognition and acceptance of that gift.
Both grace and faith are required…….both are mandatory. God does grace……you and I must do faith.
No matter what the culture says, we cannot create grace. We cannot invent a paradise that aligns with our appetites. Grace and paradise……….and hell………are God’s domain. And you are not God……nor am I.
What is left is faith. Faith is our domain…….and we can create faith. We are men and women…….and faith is our job.
God is God and he will do grace.
I am a man…….and I must do faith………or forego grace.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
John, John 3:16, ESV
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Paul, Hebrews 11:6, ESV
“Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
Jesus, John 11:4, ESV