All Worked Up!

Contrary to what Maynard G. Krebbs may have thought, work is not always a dirty word. It was my privilege to be raised in a Christian home. As a matter of fact, I cannot remember a time when our family life didn't revolve around the Church. I was born on a Monday and was in Church on Sunday. In the intervening years I was taught the value of worship, Bible reading, prayer and service by my parents - who were fairly young Christians themselves.
In all the years of my childhood I don't think I ever read through the Bible. I knew Old Testament stories and the valuable lessons they taught, and I knew the New Testament stories and the truth of the Gospel. I memorized Scripture and received an award: a Bible (which I still have on my shelf!). I knew from a young age that I would be a preacher, and once in Bible college I studied the Scriptures. I just wish I had studied a little more diligently then.
After a number of years in the ministry I began reading through the Bible each year. I discovered many truths that had been hidden to me before because I was reading for knowledge rather than reading to know God deeply. Sometimes my Bible reading was nothing more than moving the bookmark. I say this to my shame, but that's the way it was.
One day, in reading through the Old Testament, I read something that shook me to the core. The prophet Isaiah declared that "all our righteous acts are like filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6). Without being too graphic, he was saying that even our righteous acts are filth to the Lord. They will be discarded. And then I came to Galatians where Paul's whole argument is that our salvation does not depend on our works. Or, as Augustus Toplady wrote, "Not the labors of my hands can fulfill the law's demands."
Up to that point I'd been knocking myself out trying to do enough good things that God would have to love me. I was seeking some overwhelming weight of good deeds that would inevitably tip the scales of God's justice in my favor. But now I had discovered that nothing I could do - preaching, singing, serving, writing, praying, reading - could ever make God love me more than He already did in Christ Jesus.
Don't misunderstand: I still work. But I'm not working to earn God's favor or to be set free from my sin. I'm not trying to earn my salvation or even secure my spot in heaven. I work now because of gratitude. And I have found that I'm not satisfied with all I do. After all, how could you every thank God enough?! I truly want to do more; not to earn God's praise and favor, but to exalt Him more in my life.
I'm so glad that God, in grace, called me to Himself that I might believe in His Son. I am so glad Christ's atonement covers my sins because no amount of digging would produce a hole big enough to bury all my sins. I'm so glad He considered me faithful and appointed me to His service. And I'm so glad He has given me.....
A Steadfast Hope!