Skip to main content

Keeping Score

          God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. (Hebrews 6:10)

One of the temptations when the going gets rough is to think that God is somehow displeased with us and punishing us. Everything we’ve done hasn’t mattered to God at all. None of it is good enough. Somehow, we’ve done something so terribly wrong that nothing else matters – even though we can’t figure out what that thing is.

The problem of God being displeased with us and punishing us even though we don’t know what we did to deserve it is deal with in Job. Bad things happen to good people, period. We don’t know why, but we need to get past the silly notion that bad things don’t happen to good people, or that good things don’t happen to bad people. God gives grace to both and allows hardship to both. It’s not a contest.

But today’s passage deals with the other issue: the idea that everything we’ve done doesn’t matter to God. The reality is probably that we haven’t done as much as we think we have, and that we’ve done more than we think we have, but that God may not see the things we’ve done in the same way. But, putting the evaluation of what we’ve done aside, let’s consider.

How would you like it if someone made a habit of reminding you of what a great person they are (especially if you don’t agree)? What would your reaction be to someone who used what they’ve done for you as the means by which to demand that you do for them? How would you feel about a relationship built entirely on what amounts to business transactions? Would you really want to have to pay the cost of getting something good from God? Over and over?

And why would you want your life established on this basis? The mean reason that comes to mind is a comforting one – that it puts us in control of the situation. “OK, God, I helped that little old man across the road, now You have to increase my metabolism so that I can eat what I want to and not gain weight.” (Do we ever think that God is allowing our metabolism to be low so that we don’t have to eat so much to stay alive – thus saving us money? I’m not saying it’s so, just that there’s more than one way to look at things.)

More important than the simple transactionism, what should someone have to do to get God to give them something. Do we have a reasonable wage scale? If we do something good worth $1, what equivalent good should we expect from God. And what if, at the end of the day, we are in the negative range? Who gets to decide?

The wage scale was set, long ago. The wages of sin is death. No matter what sin. No matter what the provocation. No matter what. That’s what we deserve. All the good we do doesn’t erase that debt. But God doesn’t work on such a transactional basis. Once the debt has been wiped out, He doesn’t operate on a transactional basis, but on the basis of love, and so should we. He doesn’t forget the right we’ve done, but it’s not the basis of bargaining with Him. What we do matters, but not as a means of keeping score.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more