In school, grades were based on performance.
At work, promotions are based on performance.
In athletics, awards are based on performance.
In investing, grants are based on projected performance.
It would seem that all the outcomes of our life are based on performance. There is one, incredible exception. Our God has laid out a plan for us that allows us to come home to Him, even if we can’t quite measure up to the “spiritual greats” like Noah, Moses, Isaiah, Paul, etc.
When it comes to our place in eternity, our final destination does not come with a price tag.
This is hard for us to understand. We have spent our lives working towards our goals and measuring ourselves up to the world around us. Often we struggle to grasp this concept of being rewarded regardless of our performance in life. But Ephesians explains exactly what the intent of this system is.
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2.8-9
By taking the “earn it” out of the equation God has removed fear, uncertainty, and boastfulness. There is no longer fear or uncertainty that we may not be good enough. There is no longer a temptation to boast and lift ourselves over others. God has, graciously, removed opportunities for sinfulness to overtake us. How amazing is He that he would remove the need for perfection while also eliminating instances where we would destroy our chances at perfection?
This is so much more beautiful when you realize how impossible perfection really is. The entire Old Testament is just a story of God’s People trying - and failing - to achieve the perfection needed to enter through the Pearly Gates of our Heavenly home. To earn our way through the most grandiose gates we could ever imagine we would have to walk a most blameless life, without so much as a drop of envy or anger. If anyone has ever cut you off in traffic while driving your dream car you know just how difficult that would be.
And it is all because God loves us.
He loves us despite our flaws, he loves us on our difficult days, he loves us when we hate, he loves us when we can’t even love ourselves.
I can’t say this enough. God loves us. In an unfathomable, enormous kind of way. For this reason he gave us a gift we could never fully thank him for: We don’t have to earn our way into Heaven.
And yet (you had to know there would be one of these), we manage to forget the details of this gift. We forget that the only thing we have to do to reach out and claim this beautifully wrapped present, is to have faith. We convince ourselves that we must be ‘good enough’ or that we must somehow earn our salvation. I am guilty of this - I will see various charities and think that I don’t donate enough, I don’t volunteer enough. I see people sleeping under a bridge and wonder if I’m not doing enough for them. I follow devotional pages on Instagram and think about how I didn’t finish my bible reading plan. I start thinking that I’m not good enough, I’m not holding up my end of the bargain.
Hold up, though. My performance has just become my focus. Instead of focusing on the reason I want to ‘perform’ well, I have shifted my focus to the performance it self. This was never God’s intent, because it prevents us from focusing on what is really important, and our performance can become something like an idol to us. When we compare ourselves to others it can be distracting and it can also discourage us. After all - we could never measure up to perfection.
How great is it that we never have to achieve perfection?
Maybe this week I will stop worrying about everything I’m not doing, and focus on the reason for it all: our God.
As always, I am but a work in progress.
Cheers.