Regarding Your Insurmountable To-Do List
When to sit on the sidelines and when to get up and do something.
The law was without power because it was made weak by our sinful selves. But God did what the law could not do: He sent His own Son to earth with the same human life that everyone else uses for sin. God sent Him to be an offering to pay for sin. So, God used a human life to destroy sin. (Romans 8:3, CEB)
Even though children may fight it, they find security when rules form a parameter around them. Adults also thrive with boundaries, goals, and to-do lists. Although goals and laws are two different things, they coincide. These written and unwritten instructions are easy to define, a tangible, visible catalog we use to delineate good and bad behavior. We can dig our teeth into these boundaries — a self-motivated goal to perfection spiritually, physically, and mentally.
As a young stay-at-home mom, I would give myself goals for the day. I was the boss of myself, so I did this to be productive. Hidden within that list were the unseen ones of morality, which included not being lazy. The list was fine, but my deep-seated reason for the list was so that I would feel a sense of being a worthy person.
Rules and our hidden lists are reasonable, yet they can become so vital that they may thwart common-sense compassion. When rules become the all-knowing god, it’s an idol like anything else.
I attended a church many years ago where the pastor preached every message on rules. He would preach, “Don’t do this and don’t do that. Don’t wear this, don’t go there, and don’t say that.” It took a while for my eyes to open that something was wrong with his message. He loved regulations, stories of hell, and sowing seeds of fear. His message of grace was negligible as he scared one to Christ.
Grasping grace is problematic because it has obscure lines. It bends and stretches to reach the most despicable person, all the way to the best person you know. Its boundaries are limitless, and it’s free for all.
It’s free? Where’s the catch?
The Old Testament is full of rules and laws. So many were in place for one primary purpose: to show us that we could never live totally within its confines. We are fallible.
Can anyone honestly say that they follow every single law every single day of their entire life? The Old Testament laws became the hope of salvation to the point that when Jesus came, the religious leaders couldn’t see. Their idol had become the law. They could not see Jesus for who He truly was.
Sadly, some today still put too much worth on following rules and fulfilling lists. You’ve seen it before. The person who is in charge of a few things becomes self-important and obnoxious concerning their power. They will not bend for anything if it breaks the rules. Forget mercy and grace.
Grace supersedes rules, regulations, laws, and lists. Jesus gave His life not to abolish the law but to fulfill it. He is the victor of all our failures.
- We weakened the law with our sinful nature, but Christ in His righteousness became our strength.
- We stand condemned in the law, but because He bore our condemnation on the cross, we are pardoned.
- The law was only a set of standards; Christ is the paradigm, the model of all that is pure, perfect, and holy.
- The law was written on tablets, but Jesus is the Word of God.
- The law illuminated our sinfulness, but the true light is Jesus Christ.
- The law was incapable of love, yet God is love.
God is offering us, free of charge, this wonderful gift of grace on His silver platter called love. It is accessible to us but came at a high price for Him. The sin of pride may be the only thing keeping us from reaching out and grasping this gift of grace.
Our to-do list is insurmountable if we are going to try and follow all the rules, and this includes our own self-made rules of perfection. These things aren’t necessarily bad, but just like sin, we can become enslaved to these lists. It’s better if we become slaves to the righteousness of Christ, but this requires a choice between two things,
Rules with self-control or Christ control
When we choose to follow Him, He will not beat us into submission, but His Spirit will gently lead us into His paths of doing what is right, merciful, kind, and loving. He will help us prioritize what is most needed at the time.
We have it backward when we think we are good by fulfilling all the laws and lists. Instead, when we choose Christ and His goodness, we become worthy and will do excellent things through His loving motivation. We don’t have to strive to be perfect because He is the perfection in us.
