"If you love me, you will obey my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another counselor to help you and be with you forever." John 14:15
Some people think that praying 13 hours a day, dressing modestly, memorizing chapters of the Bible, eating vegan, and giving away half their possessions will earn them straight ‘A’s in God’s grade book. Then for extra credit points they give their old coats to the poor, and knit scarves for the homeless, and these things make God happy right? This is the folk tale version of Christianity—you graduate to God’s “nice list,” and he checks his list twice to find out who’s been naughty or nice. The problem with this mentality is that it’s anti-Biblical. It teaches us, in the name of Christianity, to trust in ourselves. Of course there's nothing wrong with the behavior, just the mentality.
The truth is rather difficult to comprehend because it’s quite the opposite of our deserve this mindset that comes so naturally. It violates our sense of justice for others to receive for free what they haven't earned or don’t deserve. And while the free lunch language permeates our theology of salvation, it hasn’t permeated our sense of relationship with God. We go on trying to earn his approval, or earn our place in the hierarchy of blessedness. We continue to strive to receive something God has already given us freely—his affection.
Duty or Relationship
Even more amazingly, Jesus actually taught that religion and spiritual habits and good deeds can get in the way of a relationship with him if we’re using them to endorse ourselves. Trusting in what I know, and who I’m connected to, and how impactful I am; this self-trust is what disconnected us from LIFE to begin with. And nine times out of ten, this focus on duty and behavior teaches me to run to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and rely on my own strength.
God is trying to teach us to trust in him and run to him—exactly as you are—before you are worthy and before your life gets cleaned up. God cares more about you than he cares about you getting it right. That’s hard to swallow, but that is grace. God is overwhelmingly concerned for you even in your failures. Don’t hear me incorrectly, God wants to help you to “get it right” so that you can walk in freedom and know him more deeply. But if you focus on relationship with God and fall in love with God then he’ll lead you into “rightness” through the power of his love. Obedience will more naturally flow out of the power of love and not duty.
Slave or Son
Jesus used the analogy of a slave verses a son. Slaves have to earn their wages around the house, they have to earn approval. The performance mentality is a slave’s mentality. Slaves can get hired, and they can also get fired. A slave is concerned about how they do. On the other hand, children simply live in the security of relationship. They are blessed without deserving it. The parent’s love is not based on the child’s behavior, but simply because they are their child. Jesus was trying to teach us to “remain” in the love that has already been lavished on us. Our effort isn’t to receive his love, but to “rest” in it. The child trusts that the father loves her even in her worst moments. That kind of love is dramatically personal. She may be embarrassed, ashamed, and afraid, but learns that the father still loves her. She may do an amazing job and learn that the father doesn’t love her any more than when she was a failure. She belongs to her father in her best and her worst moments. He simply loves her, not for how she does, but for who she is. When we live in relationship with God, failures don’t lead to rejection, they teach us to lean into God’s compassion and embrace his friendship.
The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil teaches us to keep looking at ourselves and our self-fulfillment plan and our self-justification plan. The Tree of Life teaches us to take our eyes off of ourselves and grow to trust in God’s goodness and power. The two disciples that sat next to Jesus during his last Passover meal were Judas and John. One lived in religious duty. The other laid his head on Jesus’s chest and lived out of intimacy. The first could not receive forgiveness. The second wrote some of the greatest revelations of God’s love and truth that we have in the scriptures. When we learn to approach God through relationship, he transforms us from the inside out, so that we desire to live right after all. Love God! If we get that correct the “be holy, as the Lord your God is holy” should more powerfully flow after.
Tags: trust, rest, relationship
