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Busyness Is Not Godliness

Writer's picture: Brian DoyleBrian Doyle

I think too many people want to point to their accomplishments to prove their worth. I think it’s because we want to say, “I paid my dues, I’ve earned <whatever recognition I am craving>.” The same is true within the Church. Many folks want to get a giant checklist so that, when they stand before God, they can point to their credentials and say “I was a good person, I did this, that and the other. I deserve to be here.” Yet, if I read Scripture, I see Isaiah saying We have all become like one who is unclean,

and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.

We all fade like a leaf,

and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. (Isaiah 64:6)and Paul saying

 

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23).

 

The problem with busyness is that we make the work about US and not about what Christ has done for us. This is why we are saved, not by works, but through faith, and works should be a RESULT of faith, not an earner of it. We are all sinners whose works do not cover up the filth of our failure. But the miraculous thing is that Jesus, who has always been God, put on human flesh, being born of a virgin, lived the life we could not, and died the death we deserved, rising again, conquering the consequences of our sin, which is death and separation from God forever. Jesus is the only way to Christ. To sit at his feet is worth more than preaching a hundred thousand sermons. To be near to Him is what should inspire works within us, works that Glorify the Father, build the body up, and encourage the lost to come to Jesus. We are not saved by good works. We are saved for them. So let us sit at the feet of Christ, responding to His love by how we love all others, speaking the truth in love so that all may come to know His kindness.

 

Mark 10:38-42

 

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

 

Galatians 2:15-3:14

 

We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

 

But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

 

3 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?

 

Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

 

For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith




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