No matter who you are, it seems that once we start to do good works for God, we begin to believe that God loves us more because of them. If you are a Christian, have you ever felt like you had to read your Bible for a certain amount of time each day ...or if you haven't helped the homeless you somehow haven't measured up to God's standard? Guess what? We can never measure up to God's standard. The root of all our behaviors is sin. Sin is not just stealing, killing, adultery, etc... When we want to be noticed, valued, worshipped, comfortable, in control...that is sin. Sin is our tendency to live with self as the center of our lives. We are all this way on a constant basis. As a preacher preaches, he can be self-absorbed and full of his own ego which is sin. As I write this blog, it is rooted in the sin of pride. So if we are Christians and can't stop sinning, do we just give up? What good was our salvation anyway?
God wants us to realize the depth of our sin and our inability to ever be good enough. It is when we start thinking that we are doing really well and have a handle on this sin thing that we are really in trouble. Remember how Jesus felt about the Pharisees. And then remember how Jesus felt about the woman of ill-repute who poured expensive perfume on His feet. Until we really see the depths of our sin, we can never really understand God's grace. We can plug away and be diligent in all our spiritual disciplines, but until we realize that it is only God who saves, we'll never experience the peace He freely gives.
We are all broken and God wants us to stay that way. That sounds weird, I know. Let me explain that a little better. Grace was never meant to be for admittance into heaven only. If you are a Christian, we don't have to earn God's love. We already have it. We can't store up grace. We have to realize the depths of our inability to take away our own sin and go back for our grace every day and every hour. God's power is made perfect in our weakness. When we believe we've got it licked, then we have a real problem. Jesus said that the poor in spirit are blessed and they will inherit heaven. This is not talking about people who boast of all good works or those who appear to have it all together. It is talking about those who are aware that they are nothing without Him and are utterly dependent upon His grace.
God, help us to realize that our performance will never earn your acceptance. We are all sinners. But
you love us with an everlasting, unconditional love and we must daily hide ourselves in your grace. You alone are worthy.
Ephesians 2:8&9
For by grace are ye saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
