The Love We Can Never Earn

“Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better…For He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.” (Colossians 1:10, 13-14 NLT)

It’s heartbreaking to see people who profess faith in Christ work so diligently to earn His love and forgiveness. Some religions are built around this concept of being good enough to merit heaven. A friend I met years ago was of the Muslim faith. I asked him what he believed about going to heaven, to which he responded: “I work hard to be the best I can be, hoping in the end, the good will outweigh the bad.” Similarly, friends who belong to the LDS Church, work tirelessly, not only for their own salvation, but for those who have already died.

This morning I read in Galatians 5:1: “So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.” The “law” in this context is speaking directly to the Jewish laws but can also have reference to anything that distracts us from the power and authority of the Cross of Christ.

In Galatians 6:12 Paul writes: “Those who are trying to force you to be circumcised want to look good to others. They don’t want to be persecuted for teaching that the cross of Christ alone can save.” It doesn’t matter if our efforts to earn our own salvation come through religious or non-religious means, they lead to the same deadly end.

If we’re going to heaven, it’s all and only because of who Jesus is and what He alone has done. His blood paid the penalty for our sin and His sacrifice alone is the basis of our salvation. There’s no amount of good works, for ourselves or others, that can add to or deduct from what’s already been done by Christ.

Ron Hutchcraft put it this way: “No, you could never earn what Jesus suffered for you. But you can live each day of your life in light of it, which means you live to please only the One who gave His life for you. It means not limiting God to a little God-box you build, but blowing the walls off of your love and off of your surrender to Him. No cross should be too heavy for you and me to bear for Him. No demand He makes could possibly be too much. No sacrifice you make for Him can be too great. Not after what He sacrificed for you and me.

You may recall the final words of Private Ryan’s Captain (Saving Private Ryan) when he said to the young private: “Earn this! Earn this!” Then as an elderly man, Private Ryan knelt by the Captain’s grave weeping, asking his wife: “Am I a good man?” Or, in other words, “Did I earn the sacrifice that was made for me?” Having been haunted his whole life by the Captain’s words, as Ryan neared death himself, he still didn’t know for sure.

That’s how a lot of professing believers in Christ live, and die, uncertain whether they’ve done enough to earn their salvation. May I give you unequivocally and based on the authority of God’s Word, they/you have not done enough! You can serve Christ 24/7 for all eternity, and you’ll never do enough! We have certainty of our salvation through faith alone in Christ alone.

Any works done in an effort to add to what Jesus has already done is wasted effort. We do good works, not to earn salvation, but to give expression to our gratitude for what the Lord has already done. And the only assurance we need of our right-standing with our heavenly Father, is the assurance the Spirit Himself gives us (See Romans 8:16). It’s a gift that can never be earned, only accepted.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊