Some Good News

For the past year, I’ve been applying for a different position at work. I love the job that I’ve been doing for the past 6 years, but I was ready for something different. I was applying for something that I felt would better utilize my talents, and would better suit my lifestyle as a family man.

As I got to my desk last week, I noticed a congratulatory email from my coworker. The email stated that I got the position!

My first reaction was skepticism. And in an effort to not be the victim of the latest office prank, I verified the good news, and sure enough, it was true! The position that I’ve been applying, hoping, and praying for was mine.

But before I got the good news, I began to think that there was little hope of being selected. I was repeatedly told that the chances, the stars, and the cards were all aligned against me. I was filled with doubt.

Sometimes life in general, can be the same way. Whenever we feel stuck, circumstances and earthly wisdom can lead us to believe that chances are there is no hope…that we won’t be able to make that change…that the stars, the cards- they’re stacked against us...

But that’s not ever true. There is good news. And that good news comes from a source that can deliver.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

God is great, and His news is good.

Convictions?

A person is driven or compelled by the strength of his or her convictions. Each person of faith must figure out how strong their convictions really are and how far they will go in expressing themselves and, if necessary, defending those convictions. What we believe matters. If we say we believe something how will it be verified? By merely stating what we believe? or by following each stated conclusion with words and deeds that match the proclamation? Please do not misunderstand what's being said here. We are not Justified by words or actions, regardless of how "righteous" they may appear. The Word of God makes it very clear that our justification is by faith alone in Christ alone. No amount of works IN or outside of Christ can justify us before God but before men we have an obligation to be real and genuine as a testimony of and for God's glory. As the Bible says, "Faith without works is dead." In other words, CONVICTIONS that are empty and lifeless expression(s) neither glorifies God or works the common good for mankind.

(James 2:14-26 NKJV) ¹⁴ What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? ¹⁷ Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. ¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. ¹⁹ You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! ²⁰ But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? ²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? ²² Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? ²³ And the Scripture was fulfilled which says,“Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. ²⁴ You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. ²⁵ Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? ²⁶ For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Righteousness

Why do we do what we do? Sometimes we may feel as though we are living the Christian life well... we are doing "all the right things"; we read our Bibles regularly; we have successfully abstained from besetting sins that have caught us up in the past; we may be considered by those within and outside the church as "good Christian people".

While all these things, in and of themselves, are good, we must be careful not to confuse “spiritual obedience” for healthy Christian living. We must make sure that the “why? question" is not answered by wrong motives. Sometimes we are living or acting a certain way in order to appear to others what we think they want to see. We want others to approve of us. Deep down, we want self-approval... We want to be justified in the eyes of other people. These efforts serve an end with one aim – self-justification. This is, in a word, self-righteousness. Notice, when we do this, we lose the proper “why?” perspective. We cease caring about how we appear – in our hearts – before God. We no longer think of whether God approves of us. It is much easier to present our actions as a façade before others.

Self-justification, or justification before others, is more concerned with outward appearance, while a focus on justification before God is concerned with the condion of one’s heart and right standing before Him. It is when we find ourselves unwilling or unable to live for God that we can often deduce that it is because we have been living externally – self-righteously. We know that we must repent of our unrighteousness, but seldom do we give thought of repenting of our righteousness. Habakkuk 2:4 speaks of the self-righteous person… “See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright— but the righteous will live by his faith.”

Even more important than the why is the Who. Whose righteousness enables us to live the Christian life? There is only one way to live the Christian life, and that is not by our own feeble attempts at maintaining a righteousness which we claim for ourselves (perhaps relying on our intellectual knowledge about God or Christian upbringing), but it is in looking to Christ’s righteous work and death on the cross that we are able to live out this christian life.

One Way to Run

There will be times when the believer falls into sin for a season, breaking fellowship with God. In some respects they may feel like a non-Christian… and perhaps doubt their salvation as genuine. There are some who teach that it is in these times, that because of their willful disobedience against God, the Holy Spirit will remove his hand from the believer. Actually, the opposite is true-- the Christian will instead feel the Spirit’s heavy, but loving, hand of conviction pressed down upon them. The Holy Spirit may do this through a sermon, an unexpected circumstance, a friend, or when they find themselves on the very precipice of sin.

When the Christian does sin, naturally feeling the guilt and shame of their rebellion, their reaction may be that of despair. Intuitively, one is led to think that such a one should feel despair and that their actions deserve remaining in that guilty state until they learn to conform to God’s law. This understanding, however, runs counter with the message of the cross; all that Christ did for the believer. The reason one may think that despair is the appropriate response, is because the law (and not God’s grace) is mistakenly their standard. They may find themselves penitently holding onto their guilt for a time, because they feel that they must somehow deserve experiencing separation from God until they perform/ conform to God’s law through their obedience as a “better Christian”.

When one sins, having desperately realized their destitute state before God, there is only one appropriate response; only one way to run… it is to the foot of the cross for forgiveness (and not holding onto their guilt in despair), because they realize that they are unable to do what Christ has already done on their behalf. They realize that it is by God’s grace - and not by their own ability to “conform to the law” - that they find hope.

“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” - Romans 8:1