~By Danielle Sanders
Before I understood the true gospel, I thought that I had to do so-called “Christian duties” to get God to bless me with a good life. If I had needs and wants that were not being met, I thought it was because I wasn’t doing enough of the good things He required, like reading the Bible, praying, and going to church, and perhaps I was also indulging in too much bad stuff like thinking bad thoughts, being unkind, and gossiping. My conscience was bothered, and I assumed a bothered conscience was God’s way of telling me that He was not pleased with me. I’d begin doing things to ease my conscience, checking items off the spiritual to-do list, and hoping it was enough to please God so that I could maintain the good life. It was the silent motivation behind almost every prayer, devotional study, and worship time.
When I learned the true gospel, that because of Jesus, and my faith in Him, God is forever pleased with me and has already blessed me with every spiritual blessing, I realized that my previous way of thinking was very wrong. Under the New Covenant, there is no such thing as “do good and God will be pleased and good to you; do bad and God will be angry and punish you.” Instead, the Lord, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, described what life would be like for believers under the New Covenant. He said, “Just as I swore in the time of Noah that I would never again let a flood cover the earth, so now I swear that I will never again be angry and punish you” (Isaiah 54:9 NLT). Since Jesus already suffered our punishment, God doesn’t need to punish us in any way, even though our outward behaviors may vary from day to day. Instead, He is confident that His goodness and grace will lead us to repentance and teach us to deny ungodliness (Romans 2:4; Titus 2:11-12). He has absolutely no doubt that His Word will produce the changes in our behavior that He desires as it transforms us from the inside out (Psalm 119:9; II Timothy 3:16-17). This is the good news!
Therefore, God is not in the business of withholding good things from us when we don’t do our “Christian duties.” However, doing these good things is still vital. The way we access anything in God’s Kingdom is by our faith. The way we keep our hearts fixed in faith is through the discipline of spending time with Him in Bible study, prayer, and worship. By doing our “Christian duties,” we allow God to minister to us, which keeps our hearts tender toward Him, not the other way around. His heart is always tender toward us because He never changes. Spending time with Him is how our hearts remain encouraged and convinced of His loving character and faithful promises. In fact, it’s the only way our hearts will stay convinced. When troubles arise and needs present themselves, it is the heart that steadfastly trusts in God that will be able to take ahold of the things He has already freely given. (James 1:6-7)
May your personal time with God be both precious and productive as your heart becomes increasingly more convinced of His good character, loving nature, and the nearly-too-good-to-be-true promises in Christ.
