“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared […]. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.” –1 Timothy 4:1-5
Christians are good at reciting biblical truths. If someone asks us how to be saved, we know that the correct response is, “by the grace of God through faith in Jesus.” But too often, our lives don’t reflect that knowledge of the truth. We are easy prey for the lie that we must somehow earn our own salvation.
Paul warned Timothy about this in his first letter to his young disciple, reminding him that false teachers would arise who would impose extra-biblical rules on Christians under the illusion that this would make them holier. This would express itself in things like forbidding certain foods or even marriage. What it came down to was an attempt to make themselves more appealing to God.
But this is faulty all the way down to the core. By definition, grace cannot be earned. It is “undeserved favor.” How then could any actions of ours make us seem better in God’s eyes? If that were possible, then Jesus wouldn’t have had to die at all, because we could have been good enough for God if we only put the right effort into it.
God has created a beautiful world for us to enjoy, and while He has established boundaries for correct behavior, those exist to help us enjoy His creation to the fullest. We must not become so fixated on what we shouldn’t do that we miss all that God has given us. If we believe in Him, accepting Jesus’ forgiveness for our sins and giving Him control of our lives, then we belong to God.
Nothing we do or don’t do will earn us any higher status in God’s eyes. We are all equal under Him, glorifying Him as, through the freedom we have received by grace alone, we make the best use of the world He has given us.
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