What Really Counts
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One thing my pastor’s heart longs for more than almost anything else is for people to truly accept that God’s call on our lives is not to be obedient to a bunch of rules as a way to earn God’s favor, prove how much they are faithful, or to because they think it is a way to get standing in a community of faith such as a church.
That being said, it is also true that the life of a faithful Christian DOES involve standards by which we are to live. It DOES involve our faith being put into action. It DOES mean that we find our security in God’s love manifest in the witness of our lives as we seek to be bearers of the light of Christ to the world.
This may sound like a simple concept that should not be that hard to master, for so many of us are familiar with the idea that there is no more sacrifice that needs to be made in the light of Christ’s actions at Calvary on Good Friday. However, even those who were contemporaries of Christ struggled with this concept of salvation as a gift to be unwrapped and explored rather than a wage to be earned through our own efforts.
For some background on this idea, let’s take a look at Galatians 5:4-6, which is as follows:
You who want to be justified by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love.
In more than one place throughout scripture we see the inescapable reality that it is our faith that leads us to righteousness - faith that is at work due to God’s love for us and our love of God. Looking at verse six, it can be fairly said what more is there to express on the subject? The ONLY thing that counts is faith working through love.
Leading up to this stark truth, though, we see Paul calling out folks who have a legalistic-based Christian faith as having fallen away from grace. WOAH. I thought Christians WERE supposed to be faithful adherents to proscribed standards handed down through the years, rooted in scripture. Ah, yes. Again, though, it is adherence to Christian standards in an effort to secure God’s favor that Paul is railing against here.
Why? Simple.
If salvation is something that we earn, then there is no room whatsoever for God’s love to play a part in this, for it is our right based off performance. If salvation is something that we earn, then there is no need for us to have any love for God, because it is our right based off our performance. Additionally, a works-based salvation is one in which there can be no joy or celebration, because at the end of the day it is what is deserved, not a gift given out of love.
May ours be a faith rooted in love - love for God, love from God, love for all.