Carol McClain

How to be Good Enough for God

@carol_mcclain

The short answer. You can never be good enough for God.

I just finished reading Deuteronomy and Leviticus,  and all you need to do to be righteous before God. Even though I spent a month in the tome, I can’t recall half of what is required to be ethical. Make that an eighth or sixteenth.

What would happen if we obeyed the law? Those comfy spandex leggings? Toss them out. Mixed fabric.

What if you were raped? You’d have to marry the creep.

Like lobster? Off of God’s menu.

Many of the laws seem silly to us, but they were given to illustrate how we are to be holy:

 

• two fabrics? You can’t intermix with those who don’t know or desire to know God.
• Marry your rapist? If the woman is shunned, she has no means of support. This would secure her future.
• Can’t eat lobster? We know how rancid seafood gets.

Even the straightforward laws are hard to follow:

 

• slaves can go free after seven years–we see how that never happened in history.
• Every fifty years, land sold would revert to the family who owned it–who’s going to give up their property after fifty years?
• don’t covet your neighbor’s goods–hey, how else am I going to convince my husband to give me a library ladder in the kitchen or a pot filler?

Are we sunk? Doomed to hell?

No.

The Scandal of Grace

We’re saved by grace. That’s an undeserved favor. According to Merriam-Webster, it’s a: unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification. b: a virtue coming from God. c: a state of sanctification enjoyed through divine assistance.

I know I try hard to be good. Most times, I feel like I’m doing a good job. Then days like these recent ones arrive and I know the error of my thinking. We have to know we are sinners. We also must believe Jesus redeemed us–not because we’re good, but because HE is good.

Romans 3: 23-24 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

Unfortunately, too many people take advantage of grace. Since we can’t earn God’s favor, we do whatever we want and assume God will accept us anyway.

This is where the fear of the Lord comes in.

If we truly love and respect God, we’ll live not according to the Mosaic Law, but through the law of grace. What we know pleases God, we will do. We’ll never do it perfectly. Sometimes we’ll be defiant, but the fear of the Lord makes us want to be righteous.

If you want to read more, try this link from the C.S. Lewis Institute.

And, if you’d rather discover grace through fiction–try my Treasured Lives series.

I write about imperfect people. Sometimes I’m criticised because my Christians don’t act so Christian-ly. But they are us. They are redeemed by grace.

Tangled Lives

Two sisters love the same man. They share the same past: one that one sister can’t remember and the other can’t forget.

New cover coming soon.