REST....

I was reading a book recently and wanted to share this quote from Nineteenth Century Theologian B. B. Warfield.

There is nothing in us or done by us, at any stage of our earthly development, because of which we are acceptable to God. We must always be accepted for Christ's sake, or we cannot ever be accepted at all.... This is not true of us only when we believe. It is just as true after we have believed. It will continue to be true as long as we live. Our need of Christ does not cease with our believing; nor does the nature of our relation to Him or to God through Him ever alter, no matter what our attainments in Christian graces or our acheivements in behavior may be. It is always on His blood and righteousness alone we can rest.

You may be like me and wondering what all of this means? Well let me save you re-reading it a dozen times and explain it in (I hope) a slightly easier way....

 We are sinful, and have broken God's laws and this means we should be punished. The bible says this punishment is eternity in Hell. Nothing we do, no matter how awesome or good it may be will make up for the bad things we have done, so we will never be perfect in Gods eyes, and therefore never go to heaven. The only way we can be perfect in Gods eyes is through Jesus. Jesus is God's son, and he came to earth and lived a perfect life. He was the only one who was seen as perfect in Gods eyes, and he sacraficed Himself for us. He took the punishment that we deserve- death on a cross and seperation from God. When Jesus did this, he took full responsibility for all our wrongdoings. When God looks at us, he no longer sees us as sinful, He sees us as he would see Jesus.. perfect. We are only perfect in Gods eyes because of what Christ did for us. Without Him, we could never be seen as perfect at all.  This fact doesnt change when we become a Christian. We are perfect in God's eyes through Jesus, but in our lives we are still sinners- we still break Gods law. It is a paradox that we are both seen as perfect by God (Justified) and still do bad things on earth (Sinner).  Therefore, throughout our lives, the need for Jesus' death on the cross does not lessen, even after we have become Christians. It doesn't matter what awesome things you do in this life, wether you were a 'good' or 'bad' christian, or if you did amazing big things for God. The fact that you will go to heaven instead of hell is completely dependant on what Jesus did on the cross, not anything you did in this life. It is in this fact that we can rest... nothing WE DO will earn us a place in heaven. It is only through what JESUS did.

So REST with faith in what Christ has done for you.