When the best of what you have to offer does not suffice, you must look outside yourself for what you need. Whether that is running to the store for ingredients, finding a tutor for your child, or soliciting help at work, you are forced to maximize resources to compensate for inadequacy.
I have been a lifelong “perfectionist.” Seriously, I was lining up my stuffed animals in size order at two years old! So naturally, it has to be a deliberate effort for me to lay aside my pursuit of righteousness for the cross of Christ.
Since my toddler years, the gospel has been prayed and preached over my life: only by the grace of God are we saved, through faith in the work and righteousness of Jesus Christ.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.
– Ephesians 2:8
“Not a result of works,” it goes on to say, “so that no one may boast” (9). Every moment of every day I must decide to place my faith in the holy perfection of my Savior, who “loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
Indeed,
“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.”
– 1 John 4:9
Still, I have this tendency to work hard, chase godliness, and equate my worth with my performance. Maybe you can relate. Two of those things are good when done properly; I’m sure you know which one isn’t.
God didn’t create us to follow rules; He designed us to fellowship. With Him.
There are commandments and statutes, and they have been from the beginning (Genesis 2:17) — always instituted, implemented, and enforced for God’s glory and our wellbeing. Deuteronomy 28 lays out “all these blessings” that will “come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God.”
Guidelines in the garden gave way to decrees in the desert because humanity sinned. Nevertheless, the Law cannot make us right — only magnify our wrong.
“For by works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”
– Romans 3:20
But there is hope! God’s Provision:
“Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
– Romans 5:20-21
Word of the Week: Propitiation. Atonement for iniquity paid by Christ on the cross when He once for all vanquished sin and conquered death (Hebrews 7:27, 10:10, 12). Proof of God’s love (1 John 4:10) and our salvation (Romans 3:24-25).
Truly, all my own human efforts toward goodness and godliness are “rubbish” (Philippians 3:8), as a “polluted garment” (Isaiah 64:6), to be trashed in order to gain the treasure of Christ.
Abby
