I’ve been results-driven all my life. I wrestle, wondering if my performance fits the task—whatever it is. Deep down, I fear being found wanting. Hard work (and the good standing it earns me) is my way of compensating for the failings that inevitably happen when my strengths aren’t enough.
The relationship between worth and effort is so deeply rooted in our culture it’s easy to believe that we can justify our existence through our output. It’s hard not to earn our keep. Yet harder still is to face what we deserve when we are found wanting. This narrative often colors my emotions and informs my choices in other areas beyond work. It trickles into my faith. Stealthy, it hides in plain sight. Maybe you’ve been there too?
Since my early twenties, it’s been bumping heads with my faith. I’m grateful for the Word. It won’t let me cut corners about the salvation promised in Jesus.
The promise is through His work and the faith I place in it. It’s counterintuitive. My Western upbringing rebels against it, looking instead for the assurance of effort I can decipher, steps I can check off a list and mark as accomplished.
Though I’ve been a follower of Jesus for over two decades, I’m still learning to live out in practice what my head can quote and my eyes have read many times over. I’m found wanting when it comes to my ability to live rightly without transgressing. The natural outcome of my sin is death. No amount of hard work can remedy my natural bent toward sin or earn me a better outcome.
Jesus faced that outcome in our place (Romans 4:25). His resurrection earns our keep because we can’t. He provided justification for my status as a daughter of God. Our right to be God’s has nothing to do with our efforts to be good or be enough. It is the direct result of Jesus’s willingness to face death and be raised to life on the third day. His effort was enough.
Sometimes it’s puzzling, even irritating, to see flawed people praised in Scripture for being right with God. We reason: they weren’t always exemplars, so how can they be called righteous?
The dissonance stems from what makes them right before the Lord. It’s easy to skip over. When God promised land and descendants to Abraham, he was a childless nomad with a wife well past the age to bear children. The promise wasn’t contingent on his efforts. But it did require him to bank the remaining years of his life on it, living like he believed what he could not see because it was promised by God. It was a promise granted through faith (Romans 4:1–25).
The response faith requires of us is to live our lives like the promise that He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification (v.25) is real. What does it look like to live our everyday lives like this is true?
Katie L that is a really good point well taken thank you for highlighting that !
“I’ve been results driven all my life.” Hard work to overcompensate for anything else I see as lacking. This devotional was the reminder I needed as I pray for decisions that I have to make about my job. Thank you for your prayers and I ask that you please continue to do so. I pray for faith, joy and unexplainable peace for all of us.
Oh Rhonda thank you so much! That is very helpful her name is Elizabeth.
@Kate L- Oh, I so get that. I have worked with many clients with chronic conditions and life-altering illness and it is easy to fall into depression. That’s why another friend and I thought it so important to start a pain group at church, to support and encourage each other…But MOST importantly to pray together. We are reading a book right now that I had read before, and in my opinion is spot on! It is called “Why Doesn’t God Fix It?” by Kimberly Rae. Also, Joni Tada has many books about her life as a Christian, despite the fact she has been in a wheelchair for over 30 years! She is very inspiring! Not many of us can complain about our issues compared to others. But yet, we do. lol. We just have to be grateful for the blessings we have. If you can wake up, if you can stand, if you have a place to live, food, family, friends…we are well off. Could you convey that somehow? Maybe send her one of these books, or suggest? Even though she is not a Christian you are! So I would encourage you to tell her you are praying for her, and even call and audibly say a prayer for her. You could send her a song that will encourage, there are so many! “There Will Be Joy” is good. Or bible verse? Over time she will appreciate her “Christian” friend (you) that was there for her. That’s what we are called to do…lift each other up! Send me an email if you want to discuss more at rhonda fit @ gmail com (code..so doesn’t go to moderator) What is her name and we will pray for her?
@Kate L- Oh, I so get that. I have worked with many clients with chronic conditions and life-altering illness and it is easy to fall into depression. That’s why another friend and I thought it so important to start a pain group at church, to support and encourage each other…But MOST importantly to pray together. We are reading a book right now that I had read before, and in my opinion is spot on! It is called “Why Doesn’t God Fix It?” by Kimberly Rae.
Also, Joni Tada has many books about her life as a Christian, despite the fact she has been in a wheelchair for over 30 years! She is very inspiring! Not many of us can complain about our issues compared to others. But yet, we do. lol. We just have to be grateful for the blessings we have. If you can wake up, if you can stand, if you have a place to live, food, family, friends…we are well off. Could you convey that somehow?
Maybe send her one of these books, or suggest? Even though she is not a Christian you are! So I would encourage you to tell her you are praying for her, and even call and audibly say a prayer for her. You could send her a song that will encourage, there are so many! “There Will Be Joy” is good. Or bible verse? Over time she will appreciate her “Christian” friend (you) that was there for her. That’s what we are called to do…lift each other up! Send me an email if you want to discuss more at [email protected] What is her name and we will pray for her?
I love how I keep getting reminded how great God is with faith and salvation
Rhonda J (and anyone else that might have insight) – I have a friend that reached out to me today and let me know she’s been struggling with chronic pain (arthritis in knees and now back) that has really affected her mental health. She is in a dark place mentally. She grew up in the church but has nothing to do with it anymore. I’m looking for advice or ideas – how can I encourage and support someone living with chronic pain? Thank you!
There is so much wisdom shared in all of your comments today. As I was reading each comment, I marveled at how we all share a common human trait to think we aren’t enough, aren’t doing enough and not living our faith enough. Then I read how all of you continued in your comments to realize that is the point – We aren’t enough! And that is a beautiful thought because we can stop relying on ourselves and the works we do. Our only hope is in Jesus, and thank God, He is enough!
I know that I often feel I’m not doing enough because that’s how we’re taught. Society seems to say that if we’ll do just a bit more, we will have made it! God says if we have faith in Him and believe that Jesus died for our sins, and arose from the dead, our sins will be justified through Him. Thank you to everyone who has commented today. It’s uplifted me and reminded me that this is a community of Christian sisters sharing our lives, our praises and our pain. Thank you for your prayers. I am prattled for each request as I come to it. May God bless us all with the peace that comes from knowing HE is enough.