One of my favorite quotes ever is: “The wheel’s still spinning, but the hamster’s dead” (author unknown).
I think it speaks to me because my early Christian life was a vicious cycle of trying to do good, failing, trying to do better, etc, etc. — all because I was trapped in my own unforgiveness.
I tried to reach God through my works, trying to fit into a certain mold. I’d always worked hard to fit into what I thought the world expected of me, so is it any wonder that I worked really hard at being a perfect Christian too?
Problem was, I was spinning my wheels and getting nowhere.
At one point, God encouraged me to be the best I knew how to be. This was actually good for me because it caused me to focus on the right things, but God already knew I’d be spinning my wheels again.
Paul said, “Now to a laborer, his wages are not credited as a favor or a gift, but as an obligation [something owed to him]. But to the one who does not work [that is, the one who does not try to earn his salvation by doing good], but believes and completely trusts in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited to him as righteousness (right standing with God). And in this same way David speaks of the blessing on the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: “Blessed and happy and favored are those whose lawless acts have been forgiven, And whose sins have been covered up and completely buried. “Blessed and happy and favored is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account nor charge against him” (Romans 4:4-8, Amplified).
I find David’s statements interesting. Remember, he didn’t have salvation in Jesus at the time he said these things— this is like a dreamy faith statement! In other words, he was wishing for the day you and I now live in!
My point is… righteousness isn’t something that is going to happen, nor is it something we are working towards, or might someday attain because of our performance. Our righteousness in Christ was automatic the day we first believed and gave our heart to Jesus.
In other words, we can’t earn salvation by doing good works– but salvation should produce good works.
Romans 9:30-32 says, “What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but Israel, pursuing the LAW (or performance) of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law.“
How many of us today are still doing the same thing? Too many, I think. It’s imperative that we get over our WORKS MENTALITY. The Bible calls our self-made works of righteousness “filthy rags.”
“We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6, NLT). The Message Translation says, “We’re all sin-infected, sin-contaminated. Our best efforts are grease-stained rags.“
When my oldest son was in high school, he was given a brand new t-shirt for athletics that they were required to wear everyday. One day I was doing laundry and pulled his t-shirt out of the dryer and noticed it was covered in grease. I thought oh my goodness! What happened? When I asked him, he told he had changed his oil in his athletic shirt (cue mom eye-roll).
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get the stains out, so guess what? Grease stains and all, Ben had to wear his shirt to athletics like that for the rest of the year.
What if we, after we receiving our robe of righteousness at salvation, still tried to live like we used to (before Christ)? That is just a filthy rag. God gave us His righteousness to identify us as belonging to Him. But if we’re not careful, our robes can become filthy through pride, works, sin, or even inferiority. I know my own robe has been stained many times.
Thankfully God has a heavenly washing machine!
1 John 1:9 says, “If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just [true to His own nature and promises], and will forgive our sins and cleanse us continually from all unrighteousness [our wrongdoing, everything not in conformity with His will and purpose]” (Amplified).
We are symbols of God’s Kingdom (image bearers of Christ). When we fail (and we do sometimes), we simply need to acknowledge it to the only One who can cleanse us and put us back in right standing. The truth is, if we could earn salvation through our performance (or wash our own sins away), then what was the point of Jesus’ death and resurrection?
God isn’t looking for performance. He’s looking for transparency and authenticity. You will find so much more freedom in this kind of relationship with Him.
