God Doesn’t Keep Track
2007-03-24
It is amazing to see what kinds of elementary things I continue to learn about the Faith.
I cannot tell you how many things in times past, even as a believer in Jesus Christ, I have regretted. Some of these things include getting more out of college, people I have hurt, the prospect of being a great athlete, opportunities lost... Even in more recent times, striving for perfection in certain areas of my life has become a duty where I must prove myself each day. Many of us hold onto things in our past that haunt us, or live a daily agenda of proving ourselves. Others, as I do, hold onto certain accomplishments and hold them up as personal trophies for all to see. Somehow, just somehow, these trophies will offset that vast amount of shortcomings in our lives. If you have felt this way, I can promise you that you are not alone.
I cannot tell you what a relief it is to know the following statement: God doesn’t keep track. He does not keep track of our failures in any way. The basis of this is God’s forgiveness in Jesus Christ: yesterday, today, and forever. When the infinite God who created time, space, and matter, and who lives in complete independence of all three, became a Man and paid the price to rescue us from the flames that will come upon this world, our forgiveness was guaranteed. To say that we must work to keep His free gift after we were saved is tantamount to saying that Jesus was a mere mortal man. He is the Son of God. He lives today and is at the right hand of the Father. Can anyone really say, “My particular sin is bigger than God”? Though sin is a serious affront to God, Jesus became the sacrifice that ended transgression forever. When the Word says we are in Christ, or that our lives are “hid with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3), God sees us in Jesus Christ, and always will.
Now God does not keep track of our personal accomplishments, either. Who will actually say to the Lord at His glorious judgment seat, “Look at this, Master”? We forget that “We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). It is only in how the Lord is glorified that counts for eternity.
His grace alone is what matters. Nothing adds or takes away from who we are. If we are seen in Christ, what on earth could ever possibly add to our stature? If Jesus Christ, the author and architect of this universe, died for our sins, what on earth could ever possibly take away from the spiritual blessings we have received? I will walk in this grace. I will stop regretting the sins that Christ already paid for. I will stop trying to prove myself when it does not matter. For I have died, and my life is hid with Christ in God.