Because the notion of achieving righteousness through our own works is so stubbornly ingrained in us, we face a constant struggle with guilt feelings, according to Pastor Chuck Smith. In this installment of our series from his book, Why Grace Changes Everything, he discusses how we can counteract those feelings—by understanding that we can only relate to God because of His grace toward us.

A Stubborn Tendency

We find it very difficult to get away from the concept that our righteousness is somehow related to the works we do for God. We tend to consider some believers as more holy than others because of their performance. We can even find ourselves using this standard to judge others. If someone isn’t doing the same degree of works or isn’t as zealous as we are, then surely this person just isn’t as righteous as we are.

It is extremely difficult to remove this idea of righteousness by works from our thinking. Because this notion is so deeply ingrained, many of us face a constant struggle with guilt feelings. Even as Christians, we can find ourselves getting set up for damaging guilt episodes. Because we love God, we want to adopt personal standards of conduct in keeping with our identity as children of God. Now that Christ dwells within me, I want to manifest His love, which is patient, long-suffering, kind, gentle, and merciful.

And yet how fragile that love in my life can be! I can be driving along the freeway when a driver in front of me makes a stupid move and endangers my life. Instantly, feelings of anger come rushing into my mind. I want to lay on the horn and ride his bumper and show the idiot how I really feel about his driving. But then, after doing all these mean things, I remember that my license plate says, “CALVARY”. At that moment, all my old, familiar guilt feelings pour into my heart. Accusing things like, What a great witness you are! flood my mind and leave me feeling totally unrighteous. I’ve blown it again, failing God once more, and I’m left with a sense of total alienation from Him.

What’s difficult to grasp is that although my behavior is wrong, it has nothing to do with my right standing with God. It is so hard to disassociate the concepts of works and law from the idea of righteousness! My conduct and my standing before God seem to be inseparably related, and yet they are totally unrelated.

The truth is that God Himself has imputed right standing to me simply because I believe in His Son, Jesus Christ. If keeping a list of rules such as “never get angry when driving” or “never lose your temper with your children” could have brought us into a right relationship with God, then my conduct and my standing with God would be related. But there are no rules that give life, because sin has brought alienation and death. In order for us to have life, God had to establish a New Covenant based on better promises than works-righteousness. That New Covenant is the gospel of Grace. 

Grace and Peace

Maybe you have been a wretch. You have been irritable and miserable and you feel that God can’t possibly love you. You feel utterly disgusted with the failure of your flesh. You know that all you deserve is the back side of God’s hand in judgment.

Then suddenly, out of the blue, God gives you some glorious blessing. At that moment there rises from your heart spontaneous praise to God in worship. This is the truest form of praise—the kind of worship which erupts spontaneously in response to God’s grace. This the kind of praise that says, “God is so very good to me. I don’t deserve a bit of it.”

Because I relate to God on the basis of grace I am never, ever, cut off from His blessings. On the other hand, if I am expecting God’s intervention on my behalf on the basis of my goodness or my deeds, I am cut off much of the time.

I have discovered that the lack of God’s blessings on my life has nothing to do with my outward performance, but rather stems from my lack of faith in God’s grace. I have learned that God’s blessing is unconditional. The more I see His blessing in my life, the more I realize how totally undeserving I am. Because of this truth, I can have glorious peace. I have no need to worry.

In our next installment, Pastor Chuck shares how our own efforts to follow God always lead to struggle, strain, and pressure. 

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