Tuesday, September 8, 2015
John 6:28-29 Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?" Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."
MORE THAN A HOLINESS TUTOR
The crowd thought, "Maybe Jesus can be our Holiness Tutor. Maybe he's got the right list of do's and don'ts that will enable us to earn our way to heaven. Maybe Jesus can teach us the many WORKS that we need to do to get from down here to up there.
In his response, Jesus basically says, "There is only one WORK which God requires, and it's not really something that you do. God would have you TRUST in the One who was up there, and came down here."
Salvation is not about what we can do for God, it's about what God's Son has done for us. As followers of Christ, we know that our sins are removed by his blood, and not by our own diligent scrubbing. But do we sometimes ignore this fact and insist on doing something to earn our way into God's presence?
When I feel the weight of guilt on my heart, I know that Christ paid for my sin long ago. I know that forgiveness is His free gift to me. But sometimes I insist on hunkering down under my guilt. I figure I have to feel a certain level of sorrow over my sins before I can bring them to Jesus. My heart tells me that I have to beat myself up to show God I'm really sorry.
But you parents out there, is that what you want your children to do when they've sinned against you? Do you want them to punish themselves first -- before seeking your forgiveness? No. And our heavenly Father doesn't want that either.
Holiness doesn't come from our own hand, it comes as a gift from Christ's.
If we're going to believe in the real Jesus, He can't just be our Holiness Tutor. The real Jesus is our holiness PROVIDER.
