Reorient your thinking about the good things you do.
1 Corinthians 1:26-31 (NIV)
26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”
Listen to passage & devotional:
Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 24: The Sanctification of Sinners (Part 2)
Our good works,
proceeding from the good root of faith,
are good and acceptable to God,
since they are all sanctified by his grace.
Yet they do not count toward our justification—
for by faith in Christ we are justified,
even before we do good works.
Otherwise they could not be good,
any more than the fruit of a tree could be good
if the tree is not good in the first place.
So then, we do good works,
but nor for merit—
for what would we merit?
Rather, we are indebted to God for the good works we do,
and not he to us,
since it is he who “works in us both to will and do
according to his good pleasure”
thus keeping in mind what is written:
“When you have done all that is commanded you,
then you shall say, ‘We are unworthy servants;
we have done what it was our duty to do.’“
Yet we do not wish to deny
that God rewards good works—
but it is by his grace
that he crowns his gifts.
Moreover,
although we do good works
we do not base our salvation on them;
for we cannot do any work
that is not defiled by our flesh
and also worthy of punishment.
And even if we could point to one,
memory of a single sin is enough
for God to reject that work.
So we would always be in doubt,
tossed back and forth
without any certainty,
and our poor consciences would be tormented constantly
if they did not rest on the merit
of the suffering and death of our Savior.
Summary
Once again, many of us are reminded that our Christian experience, in which we've been raised in the faith from the earliest age, is different from those like Paul who experienced a sudden conversion. Those of us 'lifers' tend to have an elevated view of ourselves. Since our lives tend to be a bit more put together than those who don't know the Lord, there's a temptation to think that somehow or the other it's because we're better, smarter, or more wiser than the world around us.
Not only is that notion completely backwards, but it often causes us to think that the reason we believe and trust in God is because we're better, smarter, or more wiser than the world around us. The reality, Paul writes here, is that you and I are being used as an example by God to show everyone else that He can save any fool He chooses!
The only reason we are included in the promises of Jesus Christ is because of God making it happen from start to finish. He chose us from before the foundation of the universe, and then has been sovereignly working out all things ever since in order to bring it to completion. On top of that, God the Spirit has come into our hearts and minds to completely reorient our thinking and remove our blinders.
In other words, God worked out every aspect of our salvation Himself "so that no one may boast before him." When we read this same passage a couple of weeks ago, we looked at it from a slightly different angle, but arrived at the same conclusion, that those eight words not only obliterate the wisdom of the world, but also humble us as believers.
Dig Deeper
We noticed a few weeks ago the tendency we have to continually keep score. We see and appreciate all of the good things God has provided in our lives, but then we feel the need to do a few good deeds in order to pay Him back the best we can. The more blessings He's given, the more obligation we feel to give back.
Or, even worse, will flip the process around and start with the good deeds with an expectation that God will then be obligated to pay us back for our efforts. So it's quite shocking to read in our Confession that "we are indebted to God for the good works we do, and not he to us..."
This means that rather than amassing credit in the bank of heaven each time we do something good, help somebody out, or glorify God in any way, we're actually becoming more and more indebted to God, since every bit of that good deed - the inspiration to do it, the talent and ability to carry it out, and the strength to get it done - all of it comes to us from God!
But this is a good debt to accumulate, so keep doing these "good works, which God prepared in advance for you to do" (Eph. 2:10). But rather than taking the credit for yourself, remember to praise and glorify the God who enabled you to do them.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who "chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise and chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong."
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Thank God for giving you the ability to do good things, and pray that you will honor Him by doing these good things more and more;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: 1 Corinthians 1
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