Many Christians make religious plans to study God’s word, go to church, and join a Bible study or home group. These plans can help them grow unless they become something we are doing to prove that we are good Christians. In our human condition, we must guard our minds and hearts from falling into a fleshly mindset that what we do determines if we are good Christians.
We can never forget. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Eph. 2:8-9, NIV)
Our Self-Focus Versus Christ’s Ways
Learning to walk with Jesus requires us to follow His plan. If you are a new believer, you will not understand the difference between His plan and your religious to-do plan until you understand how to study God’s word and develop a personal relationship with Him. To walk in our faith requires us to combine our belief, trust, and actions.
It can be very easy to break down following Jesus into a set of do’s and don’ts that can easily be twisted into man-made requirements and become legalistic. If believers begin to focus on man’s plans and rules instead of their personal relationship with Jesus, their hearts become self-focused. They focus on themselves to prove they are good and to earn God’s love.
The apostle Paul was a Pharisee who lived by the laws of God to prove his worth and loyalty. However, the Pharisees ignored God’s truth about how to love and serve God from their hearts. By concentrating on being legalistic, people can carry out extreme evil in the name of God.
Paul was so committed to following the rules that he ignored the verses about the Messiah. He persecuted and killed Christians following Jesus Christ, the Messiah, until Jesus knocked him off his horse and called him into a personal relationship with him. Jesus spent several years spiritually teaching Paul. Paul knew firsthand how easy it was to get derailed from God’s path by following our religious plans and often self-serving perspectives. Here’s what Paul tells us.
I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ; you fall out of grace. Meanwhile, we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love.
You were running superbly! Who cut in on you, deflecting you from the true course of obedience? This detour doesn’t come from the One who called you into the race in the first place. And please don’t toss this off as insignificant. (Gal. 5:4-9, MSG)
Christ is Our Example
Disciples of Christ have to let go of the world’s deception and our sinful flesh desires to prove our worth by our works. The salvation we receive through Christ made us right with God so that Jesus and the Holy Spirit dwell within us. Anytime we place our plans, desires, priorities, or anything above God, we create a distance. We also open our hearts and minds to the enemy’s deceptions.
Jesus came and lived among us because he knew how difficult this world could be, especially in our imperfect human condition. Throughout the accounts of his life, we see five consistent traits.
Jesus always spent time with his Father. Jesus knew God’s word and professed it in his temptations, when he healed people, and in his trials. Jesus lived a life of obedience to God, no matter how he felt or the consequences he endured in his body. Jesus focused on sharing his saving Gospel and reaching people’s hearts. Jesus lived in God’s compassionate love, full of grace and mercy. He viewed and treated everyone with respect and priceless value.
Although Jesus was fully God, he was also fully man. This fact is confirmed by his crucifixion and death. Jesus chose to live among us to show us his path for living triumphantly through him. As Jesus lives in us, we can follow his ways and be free from the burden of trying to create our own plan to love and serve him.
Living in Christ is Intentional
One of the biggest lessons I have learned in my life has come from the realization that whenever I try to create plans that I think will please God, I’m focusing on my desire to have control or need for approval. Although my plans may be good, have I asked God for His plans for me? If my plans are not God’s path or plan for me, how can I expect him to bless my plans and grow closer to him?
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. (Isa. 55:8, NIV)
For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. (Jer. 29:11, NLT)
I must never forget that Jesus died for me. Therefore, I choose to honor and serve God. He does not serve me! I owe God everything!
