Lately my worlds have all been colliding in such a way that
I have been struggling to hold it all together. I wonder whether I am trying to do more than I should. After all, I have a full time secular
job, a bi-vocational ministry position, an active role in a blossoming
non-profit missions organization, and I write blogs and books and such. I do not say that so as to be
braggadocios or to seek your awe and amazement. Indeed, when people find out what all I have been doing
recently, they invariably ask “How do you find the time for all of that?” Truthfully, I am not sure, but honestly
it is not really an issue – most of the time. Most of the time I just do what I need to do and it all
seems to work out. Sometimes, though, these worlds do collide and I find myself
having difficulty keeping up and coping.
In times like these, I find myself asking a question of my
own: “Why are you doing all this?”
Obviously, the reason I am doing it is to be obedient. My Christ gave up everything and sacrificed
everything including his own life so that I may be forgiven. In return, I want nothing less than to
be totally surrendered to him in delightful and unequivocal surrender. I want him to be so pleased with
me so that on the day of judgment he says “Well done, good and faithful servant.
You have been faithful over little; I will set you over much. Enter into the
joy of your master.” (Matthew 25:21)
With so much struggle, though, I then start to wonder
whether I really am being “faithful over little.” Perhaps I am trying too hard to do too much and so am not
being faithful at all? So I begin
to pray “Lord, do you want me to stop soandso?” and the answer comes back
“no.” “Lord, do you want me to
quit whatnot?” and again the answer comes back “no.” “Then surely, Lord, I ought not to be doing thusandsuch” but
the answer comes back “of course you are, keep going.” So it is then that I respond to God in
prayer with “But Lord, I feel like such a failure; all I want is for you to be
pleased with the work that I do.”
No matter how many times I go through this with the Heavenly
Father it always ends the same and there is always one final answer that I
receive in return. You would think
that I would learn, but I am a slow learner. In fact, the answer I receive from the Lord may just
surprise you. In response, he
says…pause for effect… “I could never be pleased with the work that you
do.” Ouch.
Let’s get something straight from the beginning. I know that my works cannot save
me. I know that my works cannot
appease the wrath of God. I know
that I cannot please God enough by what I do to forgive my sins. But didn’t Jesus say that we would be
recognized by our fruit (Matt 7)?
Didn’t Paul say we were created in Jesus to do good works that God prepared
for us in advance (Eph 2:10)? I
don’t want God to save me through my works, but since he has saved me shouldn’t
I want him to be pleased with them?
The truth of the matter is that there is only one with whom
God is pleased and that is Jesus Christ – “You are my beloved son, with you I
am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). It
is only though Christ that God can be pleased with us. The problem with my
prayers is that too often they contain too many personal pronouns. “What can I do?” “What do you want from me?” “How can I
be obedient today?” Paul said “I
can do all things…” but he added “…through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil
4:13). Paul never boasted about
his own works, but rather only boasted in the cross of Jesus Chris. In fact, his pride in his work was
always tempered by the fact that he only did things “in Christ.” In Romans 15:17 he said “In Christ
Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God.”
There is only one way in which God can be pleased with us
and that is through our faith in Jesus Christ. Hebrews 11:6 says “And without faith it is impossible to
please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and
that he rewards those who seek him.” This means that even our works must be
done in faith, not in our own strength and not even with the goal in mind that
God would be pleased with us. Our
obedience to God comes out of a gracious heart for the wonderous salvation he
has given us, but that obedience still falls woefully short of God’s perfect
standard. He could never be
pleased with our acts of obedience – even those done from a grateful heart. God can only be pleased with our works
when they are done by faith through Jesus Christ and not through our own
efforts. We walk by faith, not by
sight (2 Cor 5:7) and that includes every act of loving obedience.
When God answers my prayers with “I could never be pleased
with the work that you do” he always adds “but I am pleased with your
faithfulness and only ask that you continue to be faithful.” I never know from one day to the next
whether God will ask me to keep doing the things I am doing or to stop everything
altogether, but I will keep asking him.
I do want to be obedient, and I want to be doing His will at all times, but
I know that he will only be pleased with me when I do these things by faith.
Never stop desiring to be obedient, but have faith that such
obedience is pleasant to the master.
It is that faith – not the obedience itself – in which he is pleased.
