Where does your trust lie?
Our world tells us that when we work hard, we get the right things. Does this sound familiar?
- Want to get good HSC marks? Study hard.
- Want to buy stuff? Save hard.
- Want to get extra shifts at your job? Work hard.
- Want to get in the good books with your parents? Try hard to please them. Clean the house.
You get the idea.
Does the same thinking apply to the Bible? Can we just work hard to get right with God?
Trusting in poo?
Let’s look at the apostle Paul as an example of someone who worked hard to be right with God. Paul was someone who had every right to brag about what he’d done. He was a super-Jew, if you like. He was born in the right tribe of people, circumcised on the right day, said all the right things, did all the right things, was super passionate about the right things (Philippians 3:4-7). If there was an award for the best Jew, Paul would’ve come first, second and third!
But what does Paul say about all these things? “Whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ” v7, and again he says, “I consider them garbage.” Other translations use words like dog dung, rubbish, refuse, worthless, sewer trash etc. Those are strong words.
Paul is saying that everything HE did to try and be right with God was just as bad as poo in light of Christ. His good works as a Jew weren’t going to get him anywhere with God, because it’s not about what you do, but who you trust in. Doing these things meant that Paul would be having faith in himself and his ability to make himself right with God, which he says is rubbish.
Trusting in who?
So then, how was Paul right with God? The verse continues on:
“I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.” (Philippians 3:8-9)
The only way Paul was right was through faith in Christ. His hard work didn’t earn it – God gave it to him.
It’s the same for us – we can’t do anything to make ourselves right with God. Christ was the one who died and took away our sin. Christ was the one who rose from the dead. It’s because of Jesus that we can be right with God.
What about you?
We need to carefully examine ourselves.
Where does our trust lie?
Are we trusting in the things we do for God to make us right with him, or the things God did for us to make us right with him?
The only way we are right with God is by faith in Jesus. If you haven’t put your faith in God, or you’re not sure – work it out! Don’t put it off. We can’t be right with God any other way.