In the middle of espresso prep this morning my eldest wandered downstairs. His voice was hushed against the backdrop of my steaming wand as it worked it’s magic wonders on my coffee—a desperately needed morning routine. “Mom, do I have Jesus in my life?” The question caught me off guard.
“Well, I remember the day we talked a long time about it and you wanted to pray and ask God for forgiveness. Do you remember?” He nodded, but I could tell this answer wasn’t sufficiently addressing his concern. “But mom, I still sin. Does God just leave me when I sin?”
Talk about an anything but routine morning conversation. That’s how these conversations generally pop up in our house—when you least expect them. My son had just finished his school’s bible lesson for the day and the idea of sin was fresh on his mind. As we discussed more, the bottom line was that he felt like he wasn’t doing enough to be a christian. He didn’t understand that being a christian didn’t magically erase away his struggle with sin. Oh how we adults still stumble over these very same heart wrestling issues!
Luckily, because of a recent in-depth study through the book of Galatians, I had a ready answer for him. There will never be a to-do list long enough, an act of service good enough, anything that we can possibly ever do, that would earn our favor and place with God. God’s work on the cross, his Son’s sacrifice and the blood that was spilled there, was the work needed. It was perfect, complete— enough. God did the work—a work done on my behalf.
As Doug Moo states, “Paul’s boasting (in Galatians) cannot be based upon ‘what happened to me,’ but must be based upon ‘what happened through Christ to me.'”
Douglas J. Moo, Galatians, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013). Exported from Logos Bible Software, January 23, 2022.
So how can I be sure of God’s mercy and blessing? Like my son, how do I reconcile my tendency to sin with belief in Christ? I admitted to my son we all still sin, myself included. But because I believe in what Christ did on the cross I stand in a new relationship to the world. No longer am I chained and bound by sin’s penalty but I have been given a new hope—a living hope. The reality of Christ in my life enables me to walk differently, it causes me to part company with this world. I may live in this world, but I don’t belong to it. God has washed me in a new identity. When God looks at me, because I believe in his son, God see’s not a stranger, not a sinner—but the precious blood of his son Jesus Christ.
What is most important? To answer that we have to look inward and upward. Focus needs to shift. God does not regard outward appearances or works very high. Often, they are a reflection of what is happening internally, but they don’t have saving power. Salvation is in Grace alone, Christ alone, with faith of paramount importance. Where there were once laws, rules and condemnation grace ushered in a new and living way for us who are in Christ. It is an undeserved and unmerited grace. It is free. We can not earn it. What is happening internally—within us, is what God values more than what our hands can outwardly accomplish. Internal work is God’s work. Internal work has eternal value. It is a work that we can never do. We can never out-do or out-work God.
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