Our society loves to compete. From a young age, kids jump into sports and begin learning the values of good ole’ competition. Of course, participation trophies and the “everyone wins” trend has impacted that competitive drive, but still, eventually kids compete in older sports, in academics, and in what colleges to go to. Then, after graduation comes the ever-competitive job market, then competing to rise to the top, it never ends.
Maybe that’s why we just find it so difficult to grasp the idea of God’s unmerited grace toward us. All our life, we live by a set of inputs and outputs. If we put the right efforts in and try hard enough, the output is success. When it comes to eternity and spiritual things, many are content to think, well I’ll win by just a few points…I’ve done more good than bad, so God understands. But wait a second, God’s righteous standard is righteous because it’s perfect, there’s no room for one sin. Steal a pack of gum, you’re a thief. Think a lustful thought, you’re likened to an adulterer. Wish someone were dead, you’re likened to a murderer. The Bible says that God see’s the heart. The Bible also says there is none righteous, no not one! It’s easy to see how our life-economy is turned upside down when someone comes along with this gospel message that starts by saying you can’t win, you can’t do enough, no one can ever uphold God’s righteous standard.
So, what do we do when there’s no chance of us tipping the scoreboard in our favor? We have but one choice…and it’s called the gospel. The Bible says in Romans that our salvation, our hope, is the free gift of God to everyone who trusts Jesus’ finished work on the cross for their salvation. That means, Christ’s death paid for our sins against God…and even more so, Christ’s righteousness is passed on to us as the Bible says that we are made new and dwell in His righteousness. You see how this is so counter-intuitive to how we work…Christ did the work, He put like a bazillion points on our scoreboard for us and won the game. It’s probably a bad analogy, but it’s like we cheated, we didn’t even touch the ball and Jesus slam dunked a win for us on a 10,000-foot net. Wow! Just like the old hymn says, “Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe!”
You might be thinking “so then what, don’t we have to do something, doesn’t the Bible talk about works?” Yes, we do have to do something…not because it gains us any better standing with God, but because just like that hymn says…we owe it all to Him. Our job is to grow in Christ and trust the Holy Spirit to help us. In Romans 7, Paul grieved his own sin, yet we see him clinging to the work of Christ as he reminds himself that there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ.
What about you? Have you been keeping score and losing the game? It’s time to let Christ win the game of life for you and put your trust in Him for your salvation. Fellow believer, the same is true for you, you have victory in Christ…like Paul, cling to that today, you belong to Jesus, live like it!
