“This is the fresh, new, life-giving way that Christ has opened up for us by tearing the curtain—his human body—to let us into the holy presence of God.” Hebrews 10:20 TLB
To walk in this ‘fresh new life giving way’ there needs to be a radical shift in our thinking. We need to stop trusting in our own righteousness and self-effort and put our complete trust in that which Christ has achieved for us already on the cross. Its only then that we can receive His gift of righteousness and truly enter His Rest.
I spent many wearisome years trying to change myself through my own strength and please God by my self-effort. It sometimes seemed to be working, but always ended up in failure and frustration. The fruit of my efforts always led to depression, irritability, despair, criticism of others and frustration. God seemed to end up being further away from me after all my vain endeavours. The sad thing was that I didn’t get it at first and I’d dry my tears, pick myself up and just try to do it a little harder next time.
I had to eventually stop and ask myself, “How do we serve God properly? How do we change?” Something was seriously wrong with my Christian walk.
One thing that wasn’t getting through my thick skull was the fact that I could not change myself by self-effort. If I did then I wouldn’t need the Lord. What was the use of Him coming to the earth and dying on the cross if I could do it all by myself?
In the Old Testament you find more laws than anyone could ever hope to keep. Every time someone failed they’d had to offer an animal sacrifice to atone for their sins. The result was, people were trying and failing, feeling guilty and then trying harder, failing again, making more sacrifices, over and over again. It was a never-ending cycle, which in some ways seemed similar to the situation that I was in.
In the Bible we read that Jesus came and offered a “New Way.” I needed this ‘New Way’, something better than the ‘Old Way’ that I was locked into. Jesus’ ‘New Way’ included mercy for failure, forgiveness for sin, and a replacement of those sacrifices with faith in Him. For many it is just “too good to be true,” so they keep on going, working harder, and trying to impress God with their own goodness. This was the way I felt about it, and there are so many others out there, who still feel the same way today.
“This new way is just too good to be true,” you might say, but this is the abundant life that Jesus spoke about in John 10:10.
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10
Misery is the by-product of religion, and religion ‘stinks,’ but praise God He wants a relationship with us, and not religion. When you look at the cults and religions of the world, they all have the works, self-effort mentality. Some climb mountains and sit in the snow to purge away their sin. Some have special kinds of diets, rigorous schedules, prayer beads and penance’s in their approach to God. Christianity however is meant to be different and not like any of these religions. Jesus shows us that the only way you can please God is by accepting what He did for you on the cross. Many of us understand the ‘faith thing’ as far as receiving Christ into our lives is concerned, but then we lose our way on the rest of our Christian walk.
Like the Galatian Church in Galatians chapter 3 verse1.
“You started off OK, but who has bewitched you into going back to works?”
Works seem to be the right way for man. We are trained all our lives to earn things, but with salvation and the walk of faith, it can’t be earned that way. It’s a gift from God and a brand new way.
“There is a way that seems right to man, but it ends only in death.” Proverbs 14:12
All self-effort seems right to man but always produces despair, depression and death to our spirits, as God’s standard can’t be attained that way. That’s why Christ came to save us. When you enter Christ’s Life you can now approach God enveloped in Christ. The Father sees you coming to Him in Christ, washed in His blood and that’s why you are accepted.
God’s ways are different. His ways are not our ways. Look at the story in Matthew 20:1-16 of the labourers who were sent out into the field during the course of the day. Those who only started at the end of the day got the same wages as those who worked all day. This is how it is with salvation. We all receive Christ’s righteousness as a gift. Those who started 20 years ago and those who were saved only yesterday, - All receive Christ as a ticket to Heaven. His righteousness and His finished work on the cross are their reward. You can’t add to this Salvation by working longer and harder.
Whenever we try to earn or deserve His acceptance, it disqualifies us straight away, for then it’s trying to be the source of our own salvation, significance and strength. It’s a lonely frustrating walk when you try and earn God’s favour and He will seem like He’s a million miles away and you’ll never feel good enough.
I remember when I first became a pastor. I thought that I would run a heavy schedule to visit everyone in the church. “That would impress God and the flock, and cause the Church to grow?” - I thought. So often I’d arrive at his or her home and no one would be there, time and time again. “God what are you saying?” I soon found out that He was calling me to minister to Him first. When I did more of this, God often arranged divine encounters and just brought people into the church without any effort on my part and it saved me from wearing myself out and having a nervous breakdown. This is living in the Rest of God.
This is how Jesus operated, for He only did what the Father showed Him. He put His Father first. He didn’t respond to the cries and needs of men or walk to His own agenda, but only responded to the Father’s voice, and this always leads to success.
When you are taken up with self-effort you become critical of others, for you end up comparing yourself with them and measuring yourself against them. I was once taken up with fasting often and became quite proud of myself at how I could do it so well. Whenever I saw an overweight Christian I’d judge them straight away. I’d say. “You can’t be right with God, as you don’t look like you fast that often and can’t be seeking God enough.” It was the same with my witnessing, praying and bible reading. I would say to myself. “Are they doing it as much as me?”
Our walk with God is not meant to be like this. Christ came to be our everything, our life, our power, our righteousness and our work. It’s not so much what we do that matters, but what we believe. Look at Romans chapter 4 and how his faith and not his works before God justified Abraham. Abraham didn’t live a perfect life either, yet he was called a friend of God, and that was because of His faith.
“Those who are led by the Spirit are the Sons of God” Rom 8:14.
It’s not those who have it all together either. Jesus only did what the Father told Him to do - no more and no less. If God told you to go and write a letter to a needy friend today for your quiet time instead of reading your bible, what would you do? If He told you not to watch the rugby or soccer final and spend that time in prayer, what would you do? He is still saying to us as He did to Peter. “Do you love me more than these?” If He told you to take your kids to the beach after weeks of busyness instead of going to a church meeting one Sunday, what would you do? Sometimes we get into such a religious rut, and try to please God with our works we don’t operate in love anymore. The Pharisees couldn’t care less if a man was in need, as they were so obsessed with their religious routines. We can become like that too if we are not careful.
Those who are led by the Spirit are the Sons of God. When we trust more in what Christ has already done for us, rather than in what we can do, we are really getting somewhere. We are beginning to walk in that “fresh new life giving way” that Jesus opened up for us, that leads us into the presence of God. What we do or don’t do does not govern us so much, and the Devil then has a hard time laying guilt on us. The trouble is, if you are doing things to please God, like reading 4 chapters of the bible religiously every day, then once you have performed this ritual the enemy will come along and say, “You should have read 5 chapters!”
The message translation says in Romans 8:9,
“But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him.”
If you stopped to listen to what God were saying to you today, you’d no doubt hear Him say. “I love you, just as you are.” If you asked Him, “What would you have me do”? I think on most occasions the Lord would say. “Rest. Come apart and Worship me.”
When was the last time you went on a ‘Praise Walk’ and asked God for nothing more than His presence? This revelation allows us to relax more in Christ and enjoy our relationship with Him.....no more striving, no more condemnation, less depression and despair ......... just BEING YOU and getting to know and fall in love with Him.
“This is that fresh, new, life-giving way that Christ has opened up for us by tearing the curtain—his human body—to let us into the holy presence of God.”
This is a short 3 minute video that I have put on Tiktok
This is a short 3min video of my testimony that I put on Tiktok