Let’s be real for a moment: sometimes being a Christian can be really rough, right? We are encouraged to love others as ourselves, to care for those around us, not to complain as we sacrifice our time and resources yet again thanklessly, and we know we should. We know it’s only by the grace of God that we can do what is asked of us, and we try our best to be generous and kind to others around us.
I think that may be where the rub is: our best.
If I may be honest, I’m very selfish. I think most of us are selfish to varying degrees, it’s the rare person who is truly willing to give selflessly. And doing any of these things can be a challenge, especially when they are not really appreciated. Once, no problem. Twice, suck in a sharp breath and let it out slowly, okay. By the third time, I’m reviewing Scripture in my mind, desperately trying to remind myself to be obedient and that Jesus is always kind with me.
Because we are so selfish, self-centered, and self-serving, Jesus tells us: “And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30-31; NASB).
It’s easy to love our Lord, right? He’s generous and kind, always willing to listen, it doesn’t really take any work. Or does it? Truly loving our God does take work, not because He isn’t worthy or bothersome, but because we are so concerned about ourselves.
Many of us don’t realize this, so we jump to the second verse at this point: I have to love those around me the way I love myself. So we try. Maybe we can even do it for a while. But then we notice, the more we’re kind the more some take advantage of it: our co-workers seem to sit back and let us deal with next issue, and the next; our neighbors allow their pets even more leeway because we decided to ask nicely or ignored it all together; I can’t even talk about drivers and fellow shoppers, it’s as if they never had any decent manners; and so on.
What are we to do?
I had been wrestling with myself and losing miserably, trying desperately to be worthy of God’s calling, not to complain, not to feel the burden that had been placed on me. Then I came across this passage in John: Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent” (John 6:28-29; NASB).
I read it again. Then thought about it, turning it over and over in my mind. And then I read it a third time. Slowly, I allowed the Word of God to give me peace as I realized what I was trying to do. We try so hard to be worthy, to be everything that Jesus would want (or rather, how we interpret what He would want), to be everything to everyone. And when we don’t live up to our own expectations, we’re disappointed and figure Jesus is disappointed as well.
All the things we should do are important, but sometimes we get so caught up in what we should do that we forget about whom we should be doing it for. It was a good reminder that it’s not the work that I do, it’s about who I’m believing in.
Jesus is very aware of our sins, transgressions, and short-comings; He paid for all of it. He’s never disappointed in us, He already knew we were going to stumble and fail, and accepted us anyway! All we really need to do is believe in Him whom He has sent. And this is where we can take a deep breath and sigh easily. We’re not going to get it right all the time, not that we shouldn’t try—we’re called to try—but we’re not bound by our failures we are bound by the One in whom we believe.