I Did It Myyyy Way

Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law. (Romans 3:27-31)

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:21-23) 

          Sing it with me,

“I did it myyyy way.”

          Don’t you just love that song? (Even if you hate it?)

In a book I’m reading, there is a scene in which a wealthy, white Liberal makes it clear to an African American that he was always on the side of Civil Rights. He fought for equality, etc., and the African American ought to show a little gratitude and appreciation. He ought to acknowledge what a fine, upstanding, good, noble, generous person the wealthy white guy was. OK, maybe some of those adjectives weren’t in the original, but you get the idea.

In the passage from Matthew, Jesus makes it clear that even doing great things in His name doesn’t make one a Christian. I know people like the wealthy white Liberal from the book. They are quick to defend themselves, quick to tell you just what wonderful people they are: look at what they’ve done for you or for whoever isn’t showing proper “respect.”

I can’t imagine standing before the throne and telling Jesus, “Hey, Lord, now wait a second, Lord, don’t you realize who I am. I kept the Ten Commandments, I lived the Beatitudes, I was generous, I went to church, I…I…I….” But I feel the temptation. I want to hear “well-done, thou good and faithful servant.” I want to be asked to stand in the front of the class of an example of what a Christian is supposed to look like. At the same time, I want to be invisible. Maybe Jesus can make me an example of humility. (Yikes!)

Sometimes we don’t notice that we are replacing The Law with another law of our own choosing, another performance based system that we think allows us to earn the applause of Heaven. In a sense, there’s nothing wrong with that. What child doesn’t want a parent’s attention or approval? But if that child is twenty-five, or fifty-five and still saying “Daddy, look what I’m doing!” and “See what a good girl I am, Mommy?” If that child is still wearing capes and saying, “Watch me fly!” and jumping off the sofa to gain the parents’ applause, there’s something wrong. 

I fear there will be lots of people wearing capes and expecting crowns at the throne of Heaven, who will be angry when their efforts to impress have failed because everything we do is nothing compared to what He did.

 Lord, help us, teach us to do it Your way.