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| This painting is available from Liz Lemon Swindle |
All other religions, despite their belief in God or gods,
have a fundamental orientation towards what we must accomplish to be saved; what
we must do to earn our salvation in some way. That introduces a self-focus,
really, and “self” is immediately sensible to the human psyche: “If it is to
be, it is up to me.” At first, it feels liberating, because “now the steering
wheel is in my own hands.” We learn the system, and set about to do the things
that will supposedly win God’s favor and cause Him to bless our efforts. But that
“freedom” of self-direction also puts a crushing weight on the shoulders of we who
keep failing. “Did I not really want this enough? Am I defective beyond help?
Does God even care about my struggles? What more can I do?” Failure wrenches a
lonely and desperate cry from the one who doesn’t understand Jesus’ lavish
offer.
With Jesus, we earn nothing. Salvation is provided. In the
shadow of that promise we are free to live joyfully as we still seek
improvement. But improvement is no longer for salvation. It is for delight;
delight to people who love solving problems, and delight to God who loves to
see His children grow. Our life becomes a playground on which we can invent stuff, a
laboratory in which we can test things. Yes, we can see the gap between where
we are and where we wish to be. And we can feel the enormity of that gap, but without
despair. Jesus has already bridged the gap on our behalf. So we are free to
strive on our end to chip away at our little “home improvements” knowing that
the “extreme makeover” will be accomplished by Him and in His time.
