Working for rewards

All our righteous acts are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).

I remember the first time that I got something published. It didn’t matter that the magazine had a very small circulation. It didn’t matter that I only got paid 50 dollars for all the time I put into writing the article. All that mattered was that my work was accepted for publication. To this day, I still have a photocopy of that 50 dollar check.

Most of us work for more than just money. We want to know that our skills are valuable. We want to feel that our time and effort is appreciated. No one likes to be taken for granted. No one wants to feel like a little part in a big machine, easily ignored and easily replaced.

It is hard to work long hours on a proposal only to have it rejected. It is hard to have your work criticized by the boss as not being good enough. It’s hard to watch someone else get the promotion that you wanted for yourself. Such things undermine your confidence, make you worry that you aren’t needed. No amount of money can take the place of feeling valuable.

We tend to approach God the same way. We want to impress Him with how good and honest and hard working we are. But a performance review from God is nothing to look forward to; by His righteous standards, we are all miserable failures who only deserve to be fired and sent away forever.

Thankfully, there is another option open to us. There is a way to please God and avoid getting a terrible performance rating. That alternative is offered by God’s Son. His offer is this: stop relying on your own efforts to win God’s approval, and rely on Jesus’ efforts instead. Jesus has already earned God’s approval. Because we are too corrupted with sin to ever succeed at pleasing God, He lived a perfect life in our place. And because our failures demand God’s punishment, Jesus chose to suffer that punishment in our place, suffering and dying on the cross which by rights should have been ours. Because of this, you don’t have to prove your value to God. Jesus already thinks you’re special—so special that He suffered and died for you. When you embrace Jesus as your Master, God credits you with Jesus’ righteousness. It is your relationship with Christ that pleases God.