Self Sufficient Salvation

We are the generation of a country that has taken the ethic of hard work to an entirely new level-we never cease. We admire the self-starters, the ones who push themselves to the top. We love to hear the stories of how people created themselves, especially if it is through an innovative way.

This is all very well in itself, but as Americans, we take our hard work, independence and self-starting and plant it in the heart of our churches, try to make it the roots of the Gospel. We have come to an era in the church where, “God helps those who help themselves,” is a far too common saying, even from the pulpit. What does this mean? It means we have dismembered the beauty of grace.

From reading Paul’s lovingly frustrated letter to the Galatians, it seemed as if the Christian population in Galatia had the exact same diseased mindset. They were fond of doing things in “the name of Jesus”, held the law to the letter, and were easily swayed by false teachers who outlined a XYZ Self-Starters’ Plan for Salvation. In their reliance on themselves, they discounted grace and slowly started to turn from their first love to their new hero: themselves.

In the first chapter of Galatians, Paul writes, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.”

Grace is defined as “the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings”. What the people of Galatia and the people in our culture have a hard time understanding is that nothing they will ever do will be good enough to earn forgiveness; it is un-earnable because it is through the grace given by Jesus’ death and resurrection and that grace alone that can set sinners free, restore broken hearts and bring intimacy with a beautiful Creator.  

So redirect. Instead of putting all your effort and strength into good works and deeds and fake righteousness in order to “earn salvation”, do these things because you are so in love with the One that saved you that you want to be like HIM for the rest of the world. Know that you do not have to rely on yourself to be saved (which should make each of you breathe a sigh of relief) and put your faith simply in the One who gives immeasurable grace.