Is Your Faith Just About Checking Boxes?
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The first time I fasted, I fasted for 72 hours. It was the season of Lent, and I was in seminary. I diligently refrained from all food for 3 days, drinking only water and fruit juice. I knew that my fast would conclude with an evening meal, so I arranged to meet a friend for dinner once the fast was complete.
God’s grace is fully revealed in the life, ministry, and death of Jesus. When Jesus announced on the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30), he was speaking about the fulfillment of all the Law’s commandments and obligations. Jesus accomplishes all that needs to be accomplished for salvation, thereby releasing us from the law’s demands. His resurrection assures us that Jesus has done for us what we could never do ourselves. The author of Hebrews describes that when Jesus “had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10:12). This “sitting down” signifies that nothing more needs to be accomplished. All is complete.
Grace brings the accomplishments of Jesus into our lives as a gift. Instead of working towards our salvation, faith calls us to accept the work done for us on the cross. Without an acceptance of grace, the Christian faith is impossible, for it fundamentally rejects the cruciform work of Christ.
Faith is more internal than external; it exists in the heart and soul rather than in the blind execution of action. Faith involves the grasping of grace, an acknowledgment that “he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us.” (Romans 8:3-4). Faith unites us with Jesus’ work.
But does this mean that what we do or how we live matters not? Do grace and forgiveness mean that I can just do what I want when I want and however I want? Absolutely not!
Scripture holds a delicate balance between faith and works. Faith is not contrary to work or effort. Christian faith, rooted in grace, testifies that we don’t earn our salvation. We can never climb the heights of spiritual exaltedness by any work of the flesh. Yet, we are called to live out our faith in action. James writes, “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead” (James 2:26). Our actions testify to the God we worship and follow. Without faithful deeds, evidenced in our lives, our faith is naturally drawn into question.
This is why the biggest witness to the truth of the gospel is a transformed life. Jesus called us to a radically new way of life, one that directly contradicts the ways of the world. We “love [our] enemies and pray for those who persecute [us]” (Matthew 5:44). Instead of acting in retribution or retaliation, we bless those who act against us. We turn the other cheek and seek forgiveness over revenge.
The early witness of the gospel was the transformed lives of the disciples. “See how they love each other,” was the observation. This is the life that we, as followers of Christ, are called to live. Jesus calls us to transform our lives in today’s world. It is in our transformed lives that we bear the image of Christ.
So where is Jesus asking your life to be transformed? How might you live out your inward relationship with Jesus? How can your transformation, by grace, be evidenced in your life as the natural response to the love of Christ? After all, this is the way of faith.
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Ralf Geithe
