Is Close Enough Good Enough?
Last time I wrote, I said I’d be happy to answer any of your questions about God. To my surprise, someone wrote to me. They said, “I have always hoped to be a Christian, but I have fallen short… What are the criteria to be defined as a Christian? Is close enough good enough?”
We all long for certainty in a very uncertain world. Without it we can feel powerless, frustrated, anxious, depressed, and without the confidence to move forward. The same is true when it comes to the Christian faith. There’s a widely held view that Christianity is about keeping a list of God-given rules or living up to some divine standard of behaviour. The positives of this view are that it puts us in control because it’s up to us to make the grade. It also gives us a way of measuring of how much progress we’ve made, giving us certainty about where we stand with God. Unfortunately, this view is also completely wrong. If Christianity is about rule keeping and good behaviour, then we’re all in deep trouble because the bible says, “Everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23). Close enough will never be good enough when it comes to God’s glorious standard.
But the good news is that Christianity is not about what we do to measure up to an impossible standard. It’s about what God has done. The bible goes on, “God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins... People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood” (Romans 3:24-25). The only defining criterion for a Christian is that they have accepted God’s free gift of forgiveness by trusting Jesus. Nothing more is needed. We’re not perfect, just forgiven. The bible continues, “Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith” (Romans 3:27).
God welcomes us as we are, with all our faults and failings. He doesn’t expect us to get our lives sorted out first. He accepts us, then he freely forgives us, and then he begins the work of transforming us into new people.
We all long for certainty in a very uncertain world. Without it we can feel powerless, frustrated, anxious, depressed, and without the confidence to move forward. The same is true when it comes to the Christian faith. There’s a widely held view that Christianity is about keeping a list of God-given rules or living up to some divine standard of behaviour. The positives of this view are that it puts us in control because it’s up to us to make the grade. It also gives us a way of measuring of how much progress we’ve made, giving us certainty about where we stand with God. Unfortunately, this view is also completely wrong. If Christianity is about rule keeping and good behaviour, then we’re all in deep trouble because the bible says, “Everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23). Close enough will never be good enough when it comes to God’s glorious standard.
But the good news is that Christianity is not about what we do to measure up to an impossible standard. It’s about what God has done. The bible goes on, “God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins... People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood” (Romans 3:24-25). The only defining criterion for a Christian is that they have accepted God’s free gift of forgiveness by trusting Jesus. Nothing more is needed. We’re not perfect, just forgiven. The bible continues, “Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith” (Romans 3:27).
God welcomes us as we are, with all our faults and failings. He doesn’t expect us to get our lives sorted out first. He accepts us, then he freely forgives us, and then he begins the work of transforming us into new people.
Neil Percival