Faith Alone
"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand." Rom. 5:1-2
When my son played travel baseball, he fell into a hitting slump and needed some motivation. We jokingly told him that if he got a hit, we would reward him with an Oreo milkshake. There are few things he loves more than an Oreo milkshake. Sure enough, later that game, he hit a bomb into center field and from first base yelled, “Dad! You owe me a milkshake!” I still have the best photo of an 8-year-old boy, with a dirty face, a baseball cap, milkshake smeared across his top lip and a smile from ear to ear.
We live in a world of cause and effect, and it is present in every aspect of our lives. It’s a simple formula after all: If [this], then [that].
If you go to work, then you get a paycheck. If you work the hardest, then you get the promotion. If you get the best grades, then you get into the best colleges. We raise our children with the same regulations. If you do your chores, then you get dessert. Our brains are hardwired with “do good” and “good things will happen.”
Naturally, this same pattern begins to emerge when we talk about spiritual things. People will often express that they don’t need “religion” because they are a “good person.” They feel justified, or made righteous, by their own actions or accomplishments.
But there is something entirely unique to our relationship with God and Paul makes it clear in this letter to the Romans. Paul explains that you will not be justified (or made righteous) by any outward work or attempt to make yourself better. Nobody is capable of being good enough to deserve or earn their relationship with God.
But you can be completely justified when Jesus takes your sin and its penalty away from you. Your only job - place your faith in Jesus, and not in yourself. It was His action on the cross, not any of your actions here on earth, that places you in right standing with God. Will you trust him today?
Pastor Jenn Guirand