Working to get what we already have

Posted on December 29, 2014 Written by Mark McIntyre 1 Comment

“He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.” – Ephesians 1:4

I acknowledge that what I have heard and what I was taught may be two different things. But, for whatever reason, whether it is because I am a poor learner, or because it was never taught to me properly, I have misunderstood this verse during my entire Christian experience.

What I have always heard when I read this verse was an injunction to try harder. I always felt that I needed to work harder at being holy and blameless. I felt as if my sanctification is all up to me and my efforts at being holy.

The end result of this thinking is either unwarranted pride or total despair. If I live in denial of how messed up I really am and maintain a weak standard of holiness, I could end up being prideful of my religious rigor. Or, if I have a proper sense of the holiness of God and how far short I fall from it, even as a believer, then I would end up in paralyzing despair.

From 2 Corinthians 5:21 I know that it is not up to me to become holy. I have already been declared holy through the work of Jesus Christ. This knowledge does not give me liberty to violate Biblical principles, but it does give me hope that when I do violate the principles, God does not write me off as a failure.

The fact that it is not all up to me, allows me to be gracious to myself and others. Yes, I mess up, not because I want to or am careless, but because I am a mess. Jesus has much work to do in me, but I can see that he has brought me a long way from where he started with me.

The main point is that I don’t have to strive to achieve holiness; it is something that has already been granted to me. I don’t have to work to get holiness; I already have it by being in Christ. I had been working to get something that I already have.

So, can I rest now?

About Mark McIntyre

A follower of Jesus Christ who shares observations about how Scripture should impact the church and the world. Mark is the original author and editor of Attempts at Honesty.

Love without qualifications

We are commanded to love, that love is not to be conditioned upon any response. Can we do this?

Stumbling blocks: how we live matters more than our words

Parents and church leaders, the best thing we can do for the next generation is to renounce our selfishness and come to meet Jesus at the Cross in humility and submission. We need to confess where we have compromised and seek to recover the ground that was lost. We want to hear the words of Matthew 25:21, “well done good and faithful slave.” We need to live lives that point to the reality of the Gospel.

On the pursuit of pleasure

I am not the first to make the point that idolatry can entail taking good things and making them into ultimate things. Or to put it another way, we should not confuse means and ends. I was thinking about this with reference to physical pleasures. Too often, the response of the church to the danger […]

It is a worship problem, not a sin problem

If I am worshiping God, if I am acknowledging my dependence upon him, then, and only then, I have the perspective to see these sins for what they are. They are ugly, no matter how much the culture around me (both church and state) seek to justify them or make them palatable.

Good advice in turbulent times

It is easy to get our knickers in a twist over current events. It is easy to get caught up in the rhetoric of whichever political party seems to better fit our predisposition.. It is easy to feel overwhelmed and wonder if things will ever stabilize or get better.

Defective raw material?

It is a bit surprising that when Samuel went to the house of Jesse to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as king, David was the last one that either Jesse or Samuel thought had the raw material for kingship.

Share

About Mark McIntyre