Monday, November 28
My best—His best
Scripture: Job 32-33, Romans 4
Romans 4:4–5 Now to the one who works, pay is not credited as a gift, but as something owed. 5 But to the one who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited for righteousness.
Observation
As Paul continued to develop his argument that we are made right with God by faith rather than by works of the Jewish Law, he cites the example of Abraham who “believed God and it was credited to him for righteousness” (v. 3 quoting Genesis 15:6). This was said of Abraham before he was circumcised and hundreds of years before the Mosaic Law. Thus, the attached promise is for everyone, Jew and Gentile.
In v. 4, Paul uses the everyday example of work and pay. When I work for someone, I don’t consider my pay a gift, but something I earned—it is owed to me. Paul then applies that to the gospel: we don’t work (keep the Law) to become righteous; we trust God and are made righteous as a gift. I don’t earn God’s favor or eternal life; it’s a gift.
Application
When I was a brand new Christian, I read a question: If you were to die today and stand before God, and He asked, “Why should I let you into heaven?” what would you say?
I thought, “That’s easy. I’d say that I’m doing my best to follow Him.” But what I was reading said that is the wrong answer. That is the old way of trying to earn my place. The right answer is simply, “I trust Jesus and what He did for me.”
If I want to earn my way into God’s favor by keeping the Law, then I have to keep all of it—perfectly. And I can’t do that. I’m destined to fail. So instead, I throw myself on His mercy and grace. I trust God, and believe that what He did for me in Christ is sufficient. My best is insufficient; His best is enough. I choose to trust Him.
This doesn’t mean that I don’t obey or give my best for Him. I do—out of love and gratitude. It means that I’ve stopped trusting my works and am trusting His instead. I’m counting on His goodness, not mine. And my faith is credited to me as righteousness.
It’s so freeing!
Let’s use a story Jesus told in Matthew 18 to illustrate this—the story of the servant forgiven an unimaginable debt. When he couldn’t repay the debt, he begged for more time, but the king had compassion on him and simply forgave the entire debt! But then this servant bumped into another who owed him a debt—substantial but millions of times smaller than what he had owed. He demanded repayment. This is not in the story, but it’s possible that the servant still believed he must repay the king his huge debt. Rather than trusting the king’s mercy, he felt and acted like he was still on the hook, still owed the big debt. So he refused to forgive the tiny debt owed him by another.
I know I’ve added an extra twist to this story…but it gets to the Paul’s point. If we believe God and trust in what He’s done for us, it sets us free from having to do it ourselves. And failure to trust—still trying to pay the debt on our own—is an insult to His grace and generosity.
So take a deep breath today and thank God for His mercy—then let that mercy free you to live a new life and extend that mercy to others.
Prayer: Lord, I’m so grateful for Jesus and I’m trusting my life, now and forever, to Your grace and goodness, not mine!