How Much Is Enough?

We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.
C. S. Lewis

When talking with a friend recently, we were discussing how they had grown up believing that the Christian faith it was all about what you do. You go to the best schools. You make the best grades. You excel in sports. You are kind to others. You make good decisions. In other words--You do the “right” things. 

There is nothing wrong with any of those things except that they can become a checklist instead of a faith relationship with a Savior. If God had wanted us to have a checklist, He would have provided us with the perfect list of things to do and would have told us exactly how many times to do each of them, but He didn’t. So if we were to come up with our own standards how would we ever know if we had done enough to earn our salvation? 

Of course people like Billy Graham and Mother Teresa would be a good measure for us, but what if they hadn’t even done enough to please God?  And guess what? I don’t even come close to doing as much as they have done, so boy would I fall short and you might have to agree with me also.

God does not leave us to question how much is sufficient. He tells us that no matter what we do, it will never be enough, because He has done it all for us. When Jesus paid the price for my sin and yours there was only one condition put on it; we must believe in order to be saved. We believe not just with our intellectual minds, but with our hearts and out of that the actions that God desires will follow.
 
Do you need to put aside a checklist and allow God to direct your life in the way He wants it to go? Will you choose to have a relationship instead of a duty list with God? It is a lot more exciting and a lot more meaningful.

2 Timothy 1:9 He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.

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