Do you live by what I call “Merit Badge Christianity?” Merit
badge Christianity is when as a Christian you believe that all your scripture reading,
church attending, tithe paying and God pleasing works will get you “kudos”
points with God.
I have been a Christian all my life, but the one thing I
have never been comfortable with in Christianity is the thought process that
the more we do, for what we think is doing for God, the better Christians we become!
God does not measure and judge you based on your performance
(any more). Yes, it is true, He did judge Old Testament Christians on the law,
but that is not how He is judging us today. We just celebrated Easter a few
days ago, and it amazes me how many people really don’t know the real and true
meaning of Christ rising for us! He rose so that we could live FREE. What does
that mean? It means so that we can be free from the worry, guilt, condemnation
and death of our sins!!!! When we die and go to Heaven, God will only look at
us through Jesus! His word declares that “love has been perfected among us in
this: that we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment; because…… (Here it is….)
“As He is, so are we in this world” 1 JOHN 4:7! THERE IT IS, TAKE IT AND EMBRACE IT!!!
As I always say, “don’t misunderstand me.” I’m not saying we
shouldn’t work or put any type of effort in our lives, but I am saying our
Christian walk shouldn’t be about what we do for Christ, it should be about what
CHRIST HAS DONE FOR US. I’ve heard
it and I know you have too, people say it all the time, “I could never pay
Christ for what He has done for me.” Well you are right! You can never repay
Him. So if you know this then why are you even trying? Do you think God doesn’t know that you could
never repay Him? Do you think God doesn’t know your heart? Do you think He
thinks like a man and says, “Well look at what I did for them, they better try
and do something in return for me!” I don’t think so and deep in your heart, I
know you don’t think so either! So if this is the case, then the question is
who are we really doing it for? For ourselves or to show man? Yes, we will receive
crowns in Heaven, but don't let the receiving of those crowns be because you are trying to
get another “merit badge” on your Heavenly sash!
Do you realize the more you try to do for God, the more
attention you are placing on yourself and your self-efforts and taking away from God's finished work! So the very
thing you are trying so hard not to do, which is draw attention away from you and to God, you are actually counter acting it!
The old covenant of law is all about you, but the new
covenant of GRACE is all about JESUS!
The law places the demand on you to perform and makes you self-conscious,
whereas the new covenant grace places the demand on Jesus and makes you CHRIST-CONSCIOUS! John 1:17 "The law was brought by Moses, but GRACE and TRUTH came through Jesus Christ!
Begin to take your eyes off of yourself. Stop being
Self-conscious and begin to be Christ-conscious! If this Christian walk is really
about Jesus as so many of us say, then let’s make it about Him and not about
us! Remember He knew we couldn’t live up to the law, that’s why according to
Romans 10:4 and Matthew 5:17, He came, to fulfill the law. AND
PLEASE CATCH THIS… I’m not saying we shouldn’t” be good” or “do good”, but
I am saying these things will come naturally when we FOCUS ON RECEIVING FROM HIM instead of trying to work for the Love, Grace,
and Mercy He has already promised us in spite of what we do and who we are!
Forever In His Grace!
Toinette Neube
I totally get where you are coming from and I agree that works cannot save us. I think some take that to the opposite extreme and believe they have to do nothing for Christ, which is just as detrimental to your walk. The bible states that we should be living sacrifices and walking epistles, which is our "reasonable sacrifice". So while we cannot repay, we can live circumspect to the sacrifice Christ gave for us.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your comment NeXplicable. I agree with you, I do believe we need to walk circumspectly to the sacrifice of Christ. We must also remember to "walk circumspectly" means to walk as Christ did, and this to me means to consider all things and consequences as we walk, in a nutshell if we walk circumspectly as Christ, we will "walk in love". It does not mean what society or Christianity has made it out to be today, which is works, works, works! As Christians we are saved by Grace and not by works and this is where so many Christians confuse working and walking!We can never repay Christ for what He has done for us, and guess what He does not expect us to. He just desires that we acknowledge Him for all we do and are,that we receive the Grace He died for, and that we set an example of His love to others in our walk. He will do the rest! When we concentrate so much on doing for Christ, we unconsciously put the focus on our selves and not on Christ. Again, thanks so much for your comment!
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