I am convinced that we, as Western Christians, are not
enjoying God. Notice I didn’t say
“serving God” or “striving after God” or “sacrificing for God”. I said “enjoying God”. And I say this because our western
world is driven by performancism, not grace; conditionality, not freedom. We somehow think (but wouldn’t admit)
that we can earn more favor with God by impressing Him with endless work,
tireless service, stifling legalism, and adherence to the “rules”.
(What are the rules you ask? The rules for me are:
If you study your Bible and write in your journal everyday and pray for
all the people in your alphabetized binder, then you will be approved by God…
If you read lots of insightful books and write thoughtful blogs and never ever
waste your time on things like Facebook or Pinterest, then people will think
you are smart and good… If you eat healthy foods and never let yourself eat bad
food, and if you work out hard every morning—no slacking—then you will never
get sick and be in complete control of your life… If you make long lists, and if
you cross most things off those lists by the end of each day, you have been a
proper steward of your time and if nothing gets crossed off, you are lazy. I could go on and on and on.) My life operates on control. And my need for control comes from lack
of trust. And my lack of trust
steals my joy.
I think I have trouble enjoying God because I don’t fully
trust Him. When I have rules and boundaries and checklists in
place, I can keep a tally of my goodness,
my acceptance, and even my “righteousness”; but, if I have to trust that God believes all those things
about me, I start to feel naked without my deeds—even though I am really
covered in Christ’s robe of Righteousness. God sees me as holy, righteous, and good, NOT because of
anything I do or achieve, but because I am hidden in Christ. That is unconditional grace.
Now I am NOT saying deeds are bad. They aren’t. Ephesians 2:10 makes this clear when it states “We are God’s
handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God
prepared in advance for us to do.” So, as Christ-followers—God’s handiwork—we
DO have deeds to do, but these deeds are not what makes God love us. Tullian Tchividjian helped me think
through this conundrum in his book, One
Way Love. He says, when
talking about Martin Luther, “Luther
asserted that our righteousness before God (coram Deo) is received and defined
by faith. Our righteousness before
one another (coram mundo), on the other hand, is active and defined by
service. The passive righteousness
of faith (vertical righteousness) is what makes us right before God—fully and
finally. The active righteousness
of works (horizontal righteousness) serves the well-being of creation and
culture by loving and serving our neighbors. This distinction is so helpful because whenever we discuss
Christian growth, the doctrine of sanctification, or the practice of godliness,
the insinuation is that MY effort, MY works, MY faith, MY response, and MY
obedience keep me in God’s good graces—the more I do “for God” the more He
loves me.”
Guess what guys?
God’s love for you is not dependent on what you do; it is dependent on
what has already been done. It has
nothing to do with who you are; it has everything to do with Whose you
are. God actually loves us independently
of what we can bring to the table.
Hard to believe isn’t it?
He loves us because Christ died for us.
Period.
There is no way we can pay back what God has done through
Jesus. Sometimes, in our frenzy to
serve God and sanctify ourselves, we wish for rules to somehow “pay down” our
debt. It’s no wonder that the
Jewish believers wanted to continue following the Law after Jesus came and made
it obsolete with His perfect life.
They wanted a measure of their worth to God. However, “when we
understand that everything between God and us has been fully and finally been
made right—that Christians lives their lives under a banner that reads, “It is
finished”—we necessarily turn away from ourselves and turn toward our neighbors”
says Tchividjian, “Forever freed FROM our need to pay God back
or secure His love, we are now free TO love and serve others.”
It is because I have started to understand all of these
things that I have begun to enjoy God.
I can now bask in His grace to me!
I can extend this grace to others because I no longer have the need to
judge them on what they do. I can
simply sit in His presence doing nothing at all and rejoice in His love for
me. I delight in the life-giving freedom
I have found in Him—freedom to rest and relax and be spontaneous and child-like—freedom
to trust in a grace-filled God. I
am thrilled by the way I can hide in His shadow without doubting that my
performance is good enough. I love
being His child because His love is not dependent on me.
His love has no
conditions at all.
And His grace is
inexhaustible.
Period.
Oh Joy!
It
is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let
yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Galatians
5:1
Keep
me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings
Psalm 17:8
The Gospel of Jesus Christ announces that
because Jesus was strong for you, you’re free to be weak. Because Jesus won for you, you’re free
to lose. Because Jesus was
Someone, you’re free to be no one.
Because Jesus was extraordinary, you’re free to be ordinary. Because Jesus succeeded for you, you’re
free to fail.
~From
One Way Love by Tullian Tchividjian
