His Works, Not Mine

Tom Barnard

“For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. 1 Peter 3:18-20

Jesus came to our world so he may take us to His.

There is a secular mentality that is as far from being true as night is from day. It goes something like this: “I am what I am today because of what I have accomplished in life.” William Barclay calls this mentality “a soliloquy in the first person singular.” It is a testimony saturated with the pronoun “I.” “Thee” is nowhere to be found. It is the “I did it my way” mentality. It is the “I’m up here and you are down there—get over it” syndrome. That might play well in the boardroom, but it doesn’t play at all where life is really lived. And when it comes to salvation, it is all of Jesus and none of me. I paid no price at all for my salvation. Not one penny. It was a gift of God. It was all of grace, “not of works, lest any man should boast.” The gospel song has it exactly right:

“Jesus paid it all; All to Him I owe.

Sin had left a crimson stain; He washed it white as snow.”

“Heavenly Father, in my heart I know I have done nothing to deserve your mercy. It was all of your grace; my ‘works’ had nothing to do with it. I know my happiness as a Christian is dependent on my relationship with you and my interrelationship with others. Both of these have suffered this week. I allowed “self” to climb up on the throne of my life, and it was wrong of me to do this. I know better. I humbly ask that you forgive my insolence, my pride, my determination to be in charge of things. Instead, allow me to see you as you are—“High and lifted up.” It was wrong of me to assume that I had arrived at some point of spiritual excellence. When I see you more clearly, I want to love you more dearly.  More than anything else I want you to reign in my life. I surrender this past week to you. I ask that you “remold it” into something resembling you. In the strong name of your Son I pray. Amen.”