Jesus Did the Work

People were created to work. It's in our nature to do things for ourselves and for those we care about. We toil all day in the hope of changing our lives for the better - we work in the fields or in the office, or at home; we study, we toil, we scrimp and save. All this because working is what people do. We work for our bread, for our clothes, for the roof over our heads. A family unit is a unit working together. A business unit is a unit working together.

Naturally this leads us to believe that we have to work towards Heaven. We work for everything else, right? We each, in our wicked natures, develop our own little "checklist" of things we have to do, things we absolutely without question must not do, things we have done, and things we have not done (but should).

Lists for house chores are fine. It's when it comes to the matter of salvation that a checklist is a huge problem. What we don't realize is we often have a list inside of our heart, placed there at some point, perhaps added to as the years go by. Oftentimes we don't even realize it's there.

We can easily say, "It's all of grace." But then we turn around and leave the conversation, saying to ourselves "My skirt isn't as long as that girl's; she must be overly modest." Ding! Ding! Warning! False pride moving in for the goal!

A checklist for salvation does one of two things: either it builds us up, or brings us down. Both of these is sinful in the eyes of our Beautiful Saviour.

Pride controls each and every one of us. Pride is pride, and so is shame. When you are ashamed because of your idea of some other sinner, your pride is saying "come on, now! Dress better! Sing better! Speak better! Don't make a fool of yourself! Look at how great so-and-so is. You are just as smart/pretty/etc. as they are."

We constantly compare the image we have of ourselves to the image we have of other people. What we need to do is hold up the looking glass that reveals who we really are: SINNERS. Ugly, corrupt, worthless. The Bible is a pure, clear mirror that we can use to look into the deepest recesses of our souls. There we see that we could not possibly "work" our way to Heaven, because we can't even do good works on our own. Each of us is the "chief of sinners".

And this is where God's remarkable grace comes in. Because our perfect Jesus did the work, living a sinless life and dying a spotless, sacrificial death, all we have to do is rely upon the Grace now freely offered, without a catch.

So, is work involved in salvation? Yes, but not by us. We are dead in trespasses and sins; that means no moving, no thinking, and definitely no working on our part. God, by His great and merciful grace, redeems us, because He loves us. When He redeems us, we become then something to be admired; because we are given Christ's righteousness, we are clothed in His spotless robes. We are no longer worthless, but redeemed, and valued. We are cherished children in the eyes of a Perfect Father.

Romans 5:8-11: "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."

When we keep this in mind, Pride loses its grip and crumbles. And when Pride crumbles, our minds are cleared and we can focus on what really matters: serving Christ Jesus, and loving Him.

John 17:20-26: "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."