Living Hope: Religion or the Gospel

“At the very moment of that vain-glorious thought, a qualm came over me, a horrid nausea and the most dreadful shuddering….I looked down…..I was once more Edward Hyde”.¹- Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

When circumstances go wrong, we are angry at God, since we believe, like Job’s friends that anyone who is good deserves a comfortable life. When criticized, we are furious or devastated because we are self-righteous and the threats to that self-image must be destroyed at all costs. It may be our talents, moral records, personal discipline, social status, and so on and we should have them so they serve as our main hope, meaning, happiness, security, and significance, regardless of what we say our belief about God is!

Pharisaic religion not only destroys the soul but it has a tremendous effect socially. Very often they have a great sense of righteousness and despise and attack others who do not share with them their doctrinal beliefs and religious practices. Very often they come out as people building their self-worth based on moral and spiritual performance and it is a sort of a resume they would present it to God and the world. When Churches are filled with self-righteous, angry, insecure, exclusive, moralistic people the ‘Bride of Christ’ becomes very unattractive and ordinary people become very confused with the nature and idea of Christianity. For an unbeliever who is exploring from outside this is only another Religion.

If we move in that religious ‘Pharisaical mode’ we end up as anxious, insecure, irritable people much greater than experienced by an irreligious group because Pharisees know deep down inside they can not attain and live up to that standard. This in other words is a ‘Do it yourself Religion’ and they inwardly believe that they are accepted only when they obey. Their full motivation is based on fear and insecurity and is motivated to obey in order to get things from God and do not care whom they hurt in order to gratify themselves! An enormous capacity for egotism, self-absorption and great regard for self interests are hidden in the hearts of most which also leads to violence, crime, warfare and total disintegration of the society. “I knew myself, at the first breath of this new life, to be more wicked, tenfold more wicked, sold a slave to my original evil; and the thought in that moment, braced and delighted me like wine….[Edward Hyde’s] every act and thought centered on self.”²

The Gospel on the other hand contains the resources to build a unique identity in Christ alone. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”; Rom 3:23 (KJV). The Gospel is that we are so flawed that Jesus died for my sins because I am so loved, valued and accepted. This will lead to deep humility and deep confidence and one can not feel superior to the other because Christ died for the whole world. Here the motivation is based on joy and one has a delight to obey God because want to resemble Christ.

When circumstances go wrong I understand that Jesus Christ took all my punishment and during the training process for eternity in this earth God will show His Fatherly love in my trials. When criticized, I cherish on what Christ has done on the Cross for me, and rest on His pain since He took all my shame. My identity is not built on my performance, but on Christ’s love for me on the finished work on the Cross. I am saved by sheer grace, so I can’t look down on those who believe or practice something different from me. It is only by grace that I am what I am. I have no inner need to win arguments. My identity and self-worth are centered on the one who died for his enemies, and makes it possible for some one to escape the spiral of bitterness, self-recrimination, and despair when something goes wrong.

So, there is a world of difference between the understanding that God accepts us because of our efforts and the understanding that God accepts us ‘just as we are’ because of what Christ has done on the Cross for humanity. This will obviously result in two radically different motivations, two radically different spiritual identities, and two radically different kinds of lives. Most believers could oscillate between these two in varied wave lengths, but one has to come to the knowledge and understanding of this ‘unconditional grace of God’ which requires a complete change in our thought process. It is only grace that frees us from the ‘slavery of self’ which lurks in the midst of religion, morality and all good things. The message here is that we are not saved by our record, but by Christ’s record!

Notes:

Timothy keller, ‘The Reason for God” Belief in an age of Skepticism, Published by Penguin Group, USA, New York 10014, Copyright,@ 2008; pg: 174
Timothy keller, ‘The Reason for God” Belief in an age of Skepticism, Published by Penguin Group, USA, New York 10014, Copyright,@ 2008; pg:175.

Book References:

1.Payer To Move Your Mountains, “Powerful Prayers for The Spirit-Filled Life.” (Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 2000)