No Credit For Good Works

How many times in the past have you been given a gift, excluding celebratory ones, and not tried to repay the person that gave it to you? For me, that number is quite small. In today’s society, things aren’t just freely given. Small presents are eventually repaid with small presents. We think in these terms: Oh they got/did this for me, so I’ll get/do this for them in return. It’s just a cycle of people “returning the favor” to everyone else.

Even the Bible recognizes this in Romans 4:4 when Paul says “Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation.” Everyone expects something in return. I feel that it is because of this preconceived notion that many people find the concept of Grace so overwhelming. Unlike humans, God never did and never will anticipate anything in return. Plus, no matter how hard we try, we could never do anything that would stand up or compare to the gift He gave us; the gift of eternal life through his son Jesus Christ. Good works alone will get us nowhere. Don’t get me wrong, we are told to do good; “In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” (James 2:17). But faith must come first or the good works will not be credited out of love for Christ.

Now back to repayment. In God’s eyes it is much better to simply have faith and to trust that He is in control; “However, to the man who does not work, but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness” (Romans 4:5). His faith, not his donation to the girl scouts in return for a few boxes of cookies, will bring him righteousness. Believe it or not, you can’t buy salvation. The Almighty Lord is giving us Grace and pardoning our sins with no regard to our past. Everyone’s slate is wiped clean; the only thing we have to do is have faith, believe that He is the Almighty God and that He sent us his only son. And to clarify the whole ‘works’ topic, once you accept Jesus as your Savior, a relationship begins to form and you want to do all those good deeds, not out of obligation, but out of love. Likewise, actions out of love never expect anything in return. The Lord loves us, each one of us and He doesn’t want us to try and reach Him through good works. Instead, He came down to us in the form of Jesus Christ to freely give us Grace and salvation.

I know I’ve thrown in a lot of scripture, but I’ll just give you one more in parting. “The words ‘it was credited to him’ were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness-for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” Romans 4:23-25

Yes, Humility is a Big Deal

Once again, I feel the need to direct your attention to the subject of humility. Somehow this topic keeps popping into my life and I find it to be more and more important at each occurrence. To start, let’s review. A blog or two back I talked about how people are always concerned with doing what is pleasing to themselves or what is best for themselves. Often times this can lead one down a wrong path. Donald Miller referred to it as self-absorption being the underlying cause of all sin. Alright up to speed?

Selfishness. It corrupts every human being at some point in our lives. If you really think about that it shows the seriousness of the problem. I mean what other quality or action can be said to affect every single person on the planet? Obviously this is a difficult trait to overcome. On the other hand, it’s not a widely discussed topic and I feel that a good portion of the world doesn’t even attempt to overcome it because it is seen as a minor character flaw.  But that doesn’t make since, because if it’s only a character flaw then why do I continually read about how we should flee from all selfish thoughts in order to be righteous and Christ-like. Something is just not adding up.

Well I figure that something is secular perspective. To those who do not believe in the Almighty Lord, conceit might not be such a big deal, but to those who live to praise Him it should be one of the biggest priorities. Philippians 2:3 specifically tells us “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.” Reread the last five words: consider others better than yourselves. Yes, that means that you are not the greatest thing to happen to your community or social group. Even the American Dream denies those words. I want a big family. I want a high paying job. I want an extravagant house. It’s all so individualized, but guess what. Being a believer of Christ means being a believer while in community with others, not alone where no one can see you. Furthermore, Philippians 2:4 says “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” So there’s two parts. Not only do you need to acknowledge that other people matter, but you need to be concerned and care for their needs. That means getting involved in their lives so that you both come out stronger on the other side.

Our goal is to model Jesus in all aspects of life. Well, Jesus did not sit on a throne making everything about himself. On the contrary, he took “the very nature of a servant” (Phil. 2:7). If you know anything about servitude, you know that the servant is at the absolute bottom of the hierarchy list. The only things lower than servants are the animals, and sometimes that’s not even the case. So Jesus put every type of person before himself. And what’s more, He was seen as a King, the Messiah come to bring a new kingdom. Now if a king can be humble and selfless, then why can’t ordinary people like you and me?

Overcoming selfishness; It’s quite difficult, but extremely crucial.

Link by Link

Over the break, I’ve been able to catch up on a few good reads. The other day I stumbled upon a quote that set the wheels of my mind rolling; in Great Expectations Charles Dickens writes, “Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day” (p. 69). After some pondering, I thought about the chain that binds me to Younglife. And I will proceed to tell whoever the readers may be just how that chain came to be.

To start chronologically, I first became involved in Younglife as a high school student. It was great in the beginning and I fully enjoyed being with all the people, but after a few years, I felt that the ministry was doing me no good. I gained nothing from the talks and my relationship with the Lord remained stagnant. Now skip forward a few years if you will to the summer before my freshman year at college. As is to be expected I was worried about making friends and getting involved in organizations that were sure to better me as a person and as a follower of Christ. Before I moved away I had assumed that I would go to the first few meetings for Quest, the college version of Younglife, just to test the waters. In all honesty I did not think anything would become of these visits. But boy was I wrong.

I cannot tell you the exact moment that my heart changed, but I know it was within the first few weeks of being on campus. I was invited to a Quest cookout and from there proceeded to attend other fun outings with the intentions of getting to know other students. Somehow out of those few occasions I found not only some of my best friends, but more importantly a dedication to serve. At some point I realized that I was holding a grudge over my unproductive high school experience with Younglife and that grudge was unnecessary, impractical, immature, and any other number of adjectives that depict a stupid action. Anyways, from there I knew that I was meant to be involved.

Now I have a desire to serve the Lord and to show the world just how great His love is, where as in high school that was not always the case. Don’t get me wrong, I was always a believer, just not always as willing to express that belief to opposition. Early into my first semester I decided to dive head first into Younglife and Quest. I am anxiously awaiting not only the training, but also the hope of becoming a leader in one of the area high schools. Jesus specifically told his disciples to go into all the nations exclaiming the Good News. As a disciple I begin my journey with the nation of high school students.

Looking back just on the past few months, I am amazed at how God has changed my heart; from barely wanting to give the organization a try to complete confidence in my dedication to become a leader. I rejoice in the gold, flowery chains that now bind me to serving the Almighty God in the best way I know possible; simply loving kids for just who they are.