¹⁵ “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.”

Why do Christians resort to legalism, living by a list of do’s and don’ts? Fallen human nature compels us to think we can become good enough to regain God’s favor. Yet Scripture teaches us, “In Him you have been made complete” (Col 2:10). The book of Hebrews encourages us to rest in Jesus’ finished, once-for-all-time sacrifice on the cross.

For some Christians, a legalistic approach to sanctification rises from a fear of losing one’s salvation. But Scripture makes it clear that our salvation is eternal and can never be taken away from us. The very reason this is so rests in the perfection of Christ’s sacrifice. To lose one’s salvation would require another sacrifice of Christ in order to regain one’s salvation, since the first one was not sufficient (see Hebrews 6:1-9). Yet, such a notion is absurd and an insult to Christ and His work on the cross, akin to “trampling underfoot the Son of God” (Heb 10:29).

Satan, the evil one, would greatly desire us to fall back into worldly, works-based life, because he knows that such living is doomed to failure, and will bring guilt and defeat. Living like that will not produce the genuine works God desires, works that are motivated by gratitude and love for the One who loved us and gave Himself for us, rather than motivated by our efforts to benefit ourselves (and indeed, works-based sanctification is focused on one’s own achievements and therefore the rewards one accrues to oneself).

From another perspective, sometimes Christians feel a lack of God’s blessing in their lives and look inwardly thinking, “There must be something wrong with me, because God is not blessing me the way I imaged He would or should.” Since they cannot change God, they resort to the one thing they can change (or think they can change), namely, themselves. God’s withholding blessing must be because they are not living right, doing the right things. So like trying to lose weight on a diet, they try to discipline themselves with all the right “Christian” things to do, in hopes that somehow God will see their faithfulness and in turn bless them.

Yet, this too is worldly, because Scripture has made it clear that, “God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ” (Eph 1:3). What we need is not more discipline, but faith to believe that we already are blessed far more than we deserve!

Lord, I do believe You have blessed me far more than I deserve. Help my unbelief, so that I will live a life more fully out of gratitude than out of works.