Misguided Efforts Could Be Making Things Worse  

Last week I mentioned a health scare I had that turned out to be nothing significant. Nevertheless, I do know people who have heart issues and have been prescribed a blood thinner. Some of them are even required to go periodically to get their blood tested in order to make sure that it isn’t too thick or too thin. I know of one such person who recently discovered that his reading was not within the acceptable range of consistency. Adjustments were made in order to try to get his blood back to where it should be. However, it kept getting worse. Finally, it was realized that there had been a misunderstanding about his test results. While it was thought that his blood was too thin, it was actually too thick. Therefore his efforts to solve the problem had actually been making it worse.

Let’s not make a similar mistake when it comes to seeking to get our hearts right with God. Some people recognize that they have a spiritual problem. They know that due to their sin, they do not fall within the range of being acceptable to a holy God. Therefore many try to ramp up their efforts in order to correct the problem. They seek to be better people and to do more good deeds. They keep trying, making adjustments, and hoping they can make enough headway that eventually God will receive them into His fellowship and have a spot for them in heaven.

Unfortunately, such efforts are actually counterproductive. They don’t get anyone closer to a right relationship with God. If anything, it is taking us further in the wrong direction. None of us are good enough in ourselves to make up for our spiritual fallenness, but trying to be good enough is not the answer. None of us can achieve that goal, and the very act of trying to achieve it gets us further away from the goal line. Granted, such self-efforts might improve our lives in some ways and our good deeds might be helpful to others. However, they don’t take care of our main problem in relation to our sin and God. It isn’t solved by more “blood, sweat, and tears” on our part. It can only be remedied through faith in the blood of Jesus Christ. The only way we can truly find acceptance with God is through trusting what Jesus did for us – dying on the cross as the sacrifice for our sins.

The Bible declares that “the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin” (I John 1:7). The subsequent verses declare, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (v.8-9). Forgiveness and cleansing don’t come from our attempts to be good. They come when we confess that we can’t be good enough, that we have sinned, and that our only hope in is Jesus. We need to quit trying and simply trust.

The strange part is that when we put our trust in the blood of Jesus as our means of being made right with God, this new relationship changes us in ways that transform us into the better people we were trying to become. God does what we couldn’t do by our own efforts. At that point we find ourselves doing those good works, not as a means to achieve salvation, but out of our desire to love God and love others.

   Don’t try to work your way into heaven. It will only take you in the opposite direction from what you intended. Trust Jesus instead.