Tradition says this religious founder fasted until he could feel his backbone from the front. Another walked naked for forty-two years, always seeking the coldest climates in the winter and the hottest in the summer in order to intensify his suffering. Two disciples of one religion walked down the street with cloths covering their mouths fearing they may swallow some minute life form and bring it harm. They carried a cot crawling with bed bugs and when someone gave an offering, one of them would stretch out on the cot providing their fellow beings, the bedbugs, a live grazing ground. Bizarre? Many of us would say “beyond bizarre”; however, millions still believe that such ascetic religious rituals, will bring them salvation.
I am currently teaching a college course on the world religions and their practices. I have noted one common denominator in the non-Christian religions—adherents must earn their redemption by endless works, suffering, and self-denial. Even then, in some religions, it may not happen in one life span, but through hundreds of rebirths over thousands of years. The big question for them in life or their next reincarnated life is always, what must I do to earn salvation and gain eternal peace? My son jokingly asked me a couple of weeks ago if I was considering converting. Without thought, I responded, “No, I come home every day and thank the LORD I am a Christian.”
What must I do is an age-old question. Since the Garden of Eden, mankind has futilely searched for a means of forgiveness and redemption. This is one of the reasons the LORD instituted the Law through Moses. It shows that sinful humanity cannot do enough of anything that will gain salvation and peace. The Law was not a means of salvation, but rather a teacher demonstrating that only God could provide the solution. Jesus had a man run up to Him who claimed he had kept the Law and . . . asked, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” I wish I could say that the ‘what must I do doctrine’, had not made its way into Christianity. But it has been there since the first century churches. Paul preached the Gospel of Christ to the Galatians church, but others came behind him and told the believers that in addition they must also do certain things. A pastor once told me, “Yes, you receive salvation by grace, but you only keep it by what you do.” This statement still makes me cringe.
As I am writing, a vivid picture comes to mind of a greyhound running around a track chasing a mechanical rabbit that is always one-step out of reach no matter how fast it runs. Those who abstain from food and drink to the point of death or torment their own bodies trying to gain salvation and peace through human efforts, are like greyhounds chasing a mechanical rabbit that will always be out of reach. The devil desires to trap Christians into the same mindset of always fearing they have not done enough. The reality of the Gospel of Christ is that Jesus caught and destroyed ‘the rabbit’. There is nothing to chase. The basis of the Gospel is not what must I do but rather what He has already done.
It has taken years of struggle for me to understand and rest in what Christ has already accomplished. I told my wife last week that I had spent the majority of my Christian journey unlearning much of what Bible College and pastors had taught me. I am writing this because I personally know so many Christians in this same struggle living in fear, wondering every moment if they have done enough. I hope someone reading this will be enlightened and begin resting in His finished work. We can stop chasing because the correct answer to the question, what must I do, is…nothing. Christ has already done everything. All that we can do is accept His work by faith.
But some will say, “What about works or doing for God?” Doing comes as a result of salvation by faith in His finished work, not as a means to salvation or a way of keeping one’s salvation. When we have faith in Him and focus on Him, He makes our Christian walk successful and productive. Fear of failure is gone; the gifts of the Spirit replace human effort; His power is perfected in our weakness because His grace is sufficient.
During one of my fearful moments, the LORD spoke to my heart and asked me, “Why do you think you can add anything to what I have already done through my Son, Jesus?” That day I stop chasing the rabbit, which was not even there. I sat down on the track of life and rested in what Christ had already done. What a relief! That is when I began living a life pleasing to God because my efforts were out of His way. Then, He could manifest His completed work through me.
Sustaining Word for the Week:
Get off your cot of bed-bugs, put on your clothes, or whatever you are doing through self-effort. Stop chasing something you will never catch. Accept what He has done. Nothing you do can add to His finished work.