Sometimes it seems following Jesus is like following a man who exists in shadow. If the sun is just right, we think, He will show up; if we get our priorities in order, He will gladly show Himself. I often think that the way I pray is not good enough for Him to hear. Perhaps I need to bow to the dirty ground for Him, I think. Maybe I need to do this to even be WORTHY enough to pray.
I catch myself in the “I’m not good enough for God to hear me” mentality often. Some of you may know it. It’s the one where we put worth into our own sacrifices for God, thinking that what we do will help Him hear us or love us more. It’s the very same mentality that leads to self deprecating trains of thought lead by words of unworthiness, words that exist for no other reason than to penetrate our minds and hearts, causing paralysis and fear.
I think Satan loves it when we arrive at such conclusions. When we believe lies such as the “I’m not good enough mentality,” we are succumbing to lies that take the focus off of the Beautiful Savior God who came to Earth and died for us. Really, where is the room for Jesus in such mentalities? Satan indeed loves it when we take our eyes off of Jesus because when we do so, we forget exactly who we are as God’s holy and Beloved children. And for those of us who don’t know Christ, oh, how the devil loves to distract us from Him.
There is a yet-to-be-read book that sits on my shelf called “The Grace Awakening” by Charles R. Swindoll. Its tagline reads “Believing in grace is one thing. Living it is another.” There have been no truer words said. Followers of Jesus know (I hope) that they have been saved by grace and not by works (see Ephesians 2:8, Galatians, Romans…you know what, see the entire Bible). But it seems to end there for many people, myself included. We read verses that speak of this grace and yet we still fall back into man made religion, the very devil that Jesus fought when He walked this Earth some two thousand years ago. You may know this as well. Its the very slime that the Pharisees spewed from their mouths while they gloated over how beautiful they were in God’s sight because of their religious keeping of the law, an obedience that lead them to the absurd notion that healing people was considered working on the Sabbath (this was one of Jesus’ favorite things to violate by the way).
Man made religion has always painted the incorrect picture of both man and God. It says that we need to make ourselves beautiful for God and that we need to reach up to him and just HOPE that he will have pity on us and give us a piece of the love cake. Crumbs would even do. I think we can be honest and say that if this is the way the Lord Jesus Christ works then He is no different than any other religious leader claiming to have divine insight. He IS Allah, the god who weighs our good and bad works at the end of our lives on judgment day. He IS the god of the Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) whose sacrifice is not enough for entrance into the very throne room of God, but who has enabled us to perform good works in order that we may attain the highest level of eternal bliss in heaven. Jesus must indeed be different, otherwise Christianity is just another religion and not the way as the early church described it.
The gospel speaks loud and clear to a lost world. It says that we are in desperate need of reconciliation with God. We need our sins (wrong doings) forgiven. It screams that we are incomplete without our true meaning and purpose in life, a meaning found in Jesus Christ. It also says that we cannot do it alone. This is why Jesus came. He knew that we could not reach high enough to find God. He knew we were unworthy of His love and dwelling among us. This is what makes His love…..well, His Love and nobody else’s. The Greek word for belief in John 3:16 (see below) serves as an explanation for what one must do to be saved. It means to depend, to trust, to receive Jesus’ work on the cross for our sins. In modern words it means both to admit our need for Him to save us, and then to LET Him be the savior that we need.
It is simple belief, trust, and dependence on Christ for forgiveness and salvation that makes us saved. It is not good works or striving to be like God that saves us. It is not religious practices or church. It is recognizing how desperately we need God’s love and forgiveness. It’s clinging to Jesus and resting in the phenomenal truth that His work on Calvary for our sins was enough. Christ speaks to us, tenderly saying, “You do not need to reach for me. I have reached for you. I am here.”
When one depends on Christ for salvation, the Holy Spirit, God Himself, literally comes and lives inside of the believer (Ephesians 1). He comes and makes His very Home within us (John 14:23 ). This means that no amount of shoe shining, teeth brushing, Bible reading, or church going jargon can make us any closer to Christ than we already are. Once we believe, this is enough. He is near and we are new. He is intimate with us and hears our every prayer whether we kneel or not. We need not DO anything in order to remain saved. Christ is enough to save us and He is enough to keep us saved. Anything other than this is mindless religious bondage.
We had the privilege of celebrating the day that God came near just a few days ago on December 25 2010 . May we live in this reality and allow ourselves to be victims of Grace. Victims of a Love that is too good to be true. Victims of an undeserved, but real favor from God. A favor that yields a hope that can never perish and a joy which lifts us above the world.
He is close dear children. He is near you brokenhearted. He is close. He is close. He is close.
It is not about us.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
