Work of Art

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. –Ephesians 2:8-10

                I have a problem and I know I am not alone. Many of us, who have grabbed onto the good news of God’s grace, like a drowning man does a life preserver, are secretly afraid that it really is too good to be true and will be ripped away from us, leaving us with no hope. I know I am not the only one who feels this way because others have shared similar fears with me. For years I shuddered when I heard words like “should”, “must”, “need to”, “ought to”, “duty”, “obligation”, “responsibility”, etc., in relation to what God expects of me.  I mentally put my fingers in my ears and yelled, “Lalalalalala, I can’t hear you!” at the top of my lungs, even though I knew those words and concepts were found in the Bible.

                The pull of what I was taught for so many years – that I was saved by my good works, my obedience; and lost because of my bad deeds or lack of obedience – was so strong that I could barely resist it.  It was like a veil being pulled over my mind, causing me to become confused; making me unable to remember what the good news was and why I believed it to be true. At times I felt ashamed of my inability to hold onto my hope; guilty at finding it illusive. I confess there are portions of scripture I have actually shied away from because I am not certain I can read them without succumbing to hopelessness once more.

                On the other hand, I am sure this secret fear is one of the reasons I still experience such tremendous joy with every new scriptural insight that confirms my faith. Each revelation is greeted with the same excitement a child feels on Christmas morning, because every time it is like opening the greatest of all gifts. You might think I am exaggerating, but I assure you, I am not. Every “Aha!” moment, when I catch a new glimpse of grace in a scripture, especially one that has made me nervous, brings tears to my eyes and a wave of gratitude swells up in my heart.

                There is nothing else on this earth that is more relieving to me than the knowledge that I do not have to be good enough to please God; more than that – that it is impossible for me to please God - which is why Jesus had to come and please God for me, with his obedience and his good works, which he credits to my account. Then, taking all of my failures and sinful acts as his own, he paid the price which God required so that I would not have to. Such good news!

                But, here’s the problem: Deep inside I have known that I need to stop fearing the fact that God wants me to be a better person. I need to stop being afraid that this truth will steal my joy, putting grace in the background and placing the focus back on me instead of Christ. Scripture is clear that God’s purpose for all who are saved is to conform us to the image of his Son (Romans 8:29).  Ephesians 2:8-10 makes it clear that we are not saved by our own good works, so no one has room to brag about what they’ve done; but we are saved to do good works, which God planned in advance for us to do. I know that God desires for me to feel the same joy for what he wants to do with me that I feel about what he did for me. But I struggle.

                There are instances where I can grasp the concept and accept it. For example, we would all probably agree that if we had loved ones enslaved by addictions, we would rejoice with all of hearts over their acceptance of what Jesus did for them, but we would also strongly desire to see their lives transformed; to see them set free from their chains; not so they could be good enough to please God, but simply because we know their lives would be so much better. We would long for their lives to be better.

                It is easier to recognize the need for and the benefit of change in others, but when we are talking about my changing, that is when I quake. Not because I like myself the way I am and don’t think I need to change, quite the opposite!  I know me. I know my weaknesses. I know my selfishness, my unkind thoughts, my impatience, my pride. I know how far I am from being conformed to the image of Jesus even after all these years.  I’m not sure how much evidence there is that God’s purpose for me is being fulfilled.  I feel God’s unmet expectations hanging over me and the panic begins to rise!

                I recently discovered an overlooked verse in the book of Romans that has begun to help me in this area. Those of you, who know me, know that Romans and I have a long-standing relationship. It is the Book that confirmed my belief in the good news of God’s grace. I have taught many classes on it and feel that I know the content, but God’s word is always new and full of surprises!

                Romans 8:1 (This is not the overlooked verse!) begins with the word “Therefore”. I had a teacher who used to say that whenever the Apostle Paul uses the word “Therefore” you need to pay attention to what it is there for.  Paul uses that word a lot, and it is a flag that says, “What I am going to say now is because of, or the logical conclusion of, what I just finished saying. 

                The Book of Romans is actually a letter written by Paul, where he carefully and logically lays out the gospel, step by step.  He did not write it with chapters and introductory headings.  In the portion of the letter immediately preceding Romans 8, Paul had been detailing the futile struggle of all who want so much to do what is right – to please God – but fail, time and time again. Many of us are familiar with the final verses of that section, Romans 7:24-25(first part), “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!”  Such a heartfelt, desperate plea, followed by the glorious answer!

                Most of us think the section ends there. If we’re reading along we generally mumble our way through what is actually the rest of verse 25, in order to get to Romans 8:1, but this overlooked fragment of a verse is what the “Therefore” is there for!  Let me quote the verses the way they were written, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!  So, then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus….” 

                Did you catch it? Because of the fact that my mind and body are not in sync; because my mind wants to please God but my body just won’t cooperate, Therefore the condemnation has been removed.  Let me say it another way.  Jesus came to set me free from the fear of trying to be good and failing by removing the condemnation factor. And why did he do that?  Because he understands those of us who will quake at the slightest hint of God’s disapproval and will be afraid to even hope for change.  We are free to take two steps forward and three steps back.  God will not be mad at us.  Our inevitable failures do not surprise him and in fact were the reason he rescued us! He already knows we will fall frequently. But he will continue to love us and work in us both to want to and to do his will, with no condemnation.

                Deep inside, we all know God doesn’t want us to remain unchanged, never being “transformed by the renewing of our minds” (Romans 12:2). We do realize our lives will be better, our relationships will benefit and our peace of mind will be greater the more like Christ we become. I believe the realization that God has no unmet expectations for us because Christ has met them all, and that we can simply surrender ourselves to the process resting securely in his love without fear of condemnation, will set us free to become God’s handiwork, his work of art.