Is it okay to rejoice in what I do?

January 12, 2008

A T-shirt for children says, “God created me and God doesn’t make junk,” yet many adults seem to need these words. I’ve heard people bemoan their inadequacies to the point that they cannot see anything else around them, never mind anything positive in themselves.

But does the gospel allow us to see good in ourselves? The Bible declares “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10) “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (verse 23). Because of verses like these, some adopt what has been called a “worm theology” that gives no merit at all to any human being. In the sight of God, we have all gone astray; everyone has turned to his own way. We are totally worthless and therefore have no right to see any good in ourselves or anyone else.

Yet we are created in the image of God. Although that image is marred and distorted by sin and selfishness, people have the capacity to be creative, care for one another, and do good things. Because of these things, the declaration that “everyone is sinful” confuses many people, and even makes them angry.

Sometimes I draw a diagram to explain how I understand the difference between good and godly. I use a long horizontal line with words inserted. It looks something like this:

Evil <-----------> good † godly <-----------> totally like Jesus

Every person is born on the left side of the center symbol (my best effort to draw a cross in this font). While each person has capacity for “good” as defined in human terms, we also have the capacity for evil. Most people do not go all the way to the left into total evil, but no one can go farther to the right than being a “good” person—unless they go through the Cross and respond to the gospel.

The gospel takes care of the sin issue, and it is sin that keeps a person from being godly or Godlike. Because of sin that Godlikeness is covered up or perverted. When sin is forgiven and cleansed through faith in Jesus Christ and His saving work at Calvary, a person can move from the left side to the right. In the beginning, and at various times in life, that person may not look much like Jesus, but he or she does have the capacity because sin is covered and Christ now lives in their heart.

All that said, I used to put people into black or white categories. If they didn’t know Christ, they were bad people; if they did, they were saints. While this is how God looks at us, I’ve realized that I cannot see as He does, partly because the lines are not as clear to me as I once supposed. I don’t always know who is who, or who believes what. Also, I’ve learned that although an unbelieving person cannot be godly, goodness in a Christian can be self-effort, or what the Bible calls living according to the flesh. Another term is self-righteousness. This is just as “black” in outward appearance as the sin of unbelief, maybe even more so. Because God looks on the heart, He knows what is going on, but I don’t.

Anyway, as I read and study and think about the sufficiency of God, I realize how difficult it is to think about Him and His power throughout the day. It is easier to focus on my will, my abilities, my resources. Yet is that bad? It was sinful before I became a believer, but now that I know Jesus, have the lines changed? Can I rejoice in my new life and the things I do?

I question this because I listen to Christians who cannot rejoice in much of anything. They dismiss their godly deeds as if it is somehow sinful to acknowledge that God has used them to do something in a Christlike way. This contradicts what happens in my own heart when I do something creative or Christlike. If I share my joy, I often get odd looks as if I’m doing the wrong thing.

For example, last night I stayed up past midnight designing quilts on my computer. I’ve never had the luxury of that amount of time so each revision became more creative and pleasing to my eye than the previous one. It felt good. I wondered if a similar elation ran though the heart of God when He flung the stars into space or created thousands of variations of a tree. Surely it did, and even more so. The Bible says when He was finished His creative work, He declared it “good.”

Am I not like Him? Ephesians 2:8-10 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

God gives me good things to do, but it’s difficult keeping a balance in how I feel about my performance. I can fix my eyes so exclusively on myself that all my thoughts are directed toward my own condition—Is my love for God warm enough? Am I enough in earnest? Are my feelings toward Him what they ought to be? Have I enough zeal?—or I begin to gloat over my accomplishments as if I did it all by myself. The happy alternative is rejoicing in being His workmanship and delighting in those good works that because of Christ Jesus I now have the capacity to do.

So then, what is the difference between the feel-good of an artist who does not know Jesus and the joy of a Christian over their creative works? Before Christ came into my life, I was satisfied for such a short while. Very soon after completion, I began to feel as if the work I did, creative or otherwise, was not good enough, certainly never as good as the next person, and never totally satisfying.

Not so in Christ. When I make something or do something as His child and in obedience to His leading, I can hear the Holy Spirit saying “Well done!” He fills me with His joy, a joy that does not depend on the quality of the work, but on my relationship to Him and on simply doing as He asks.

God’s saving grace is sufficient. It even includes the grace to be thrilled at the work He gives me and the completion of each task. I can stand on the right side of that diagram and rejoice at form, pattern, color, line and design, because He lives in me. These things please Him and I can feel His pleasure.

I’m no longer driven to do the perfect painting, create the perfect design, make the perfect quilt because He alone is perfect, and what He has done in my heart is more than enough!

Having Fun

“I’d never want to be a Christian. You people don’t know how to have fun.”

Sometimes I think that is right. I’ve known sour-faced people who claim to be believers, but their lives seem joyless and their attitude is definitely anti-fun. However, the majority of my Christian friends have a joyful countenance and laugh much. They know God and are filled with His Spirit. One of the fruits of the Spirit is joy, but is joy the same as fun?

Those who think Christians don’t have fun usually associate fun with activities that most Christians are not interested in doing such as, drinking, drugs perhaps, and a nightlife of, well, I don’t need to go there, but some of them make plain what they think is fun.

After yesterday, I’m thinking that being joyful and having fun are not quite the same thing. We celebrated the birthday of one of our sons by going to an IMAX movie about climbing in the Alps, then to a facility that has climbing walls and tried it ourselves. Actually, two out of the six of us had done it before, but as a first-time climber, I was terrified. Heights bother me, but for the sake of my son, I was determined to do it.

He watched me the first time I went up, laughing and saying that seeing this would be the highlight of his day. I climbed about 15 feet, made the mistake of looking down, and had to come down, but I did it. The second time wasn’t as successful, not because of fear but my upper arm strength is not there and my arm said, ‘you better stop now.’

But watching them climb and have fun was fun for me anyway. Normally our family birthday celebrations include food and something mild like board games, but this time they wanted to “do something different, mom.” So I prayed for an idea. When the film and rock climbing come to mind, I knew it was from the Lord; with my fear of heights, I’d never have come up with this one myself.

So the experience was fun, but knowing that God was behind the planning put great joy in my heart. The fun will fade, yet the joy comes back full force every time I think about God’s surprises and how He blessed our celebration with yet another great idea.

I’m thinking that those who think Christians do not have fun are looking at the activities that many Christians do or do not do, and they are right, some of us never have much fun. What they don’t know anything about is that joy that God provides through His Spirit. It is deep, lasting and hasn’t much to do with what we do. It is more about who He is.

In Hebrews 1:9, God is quoted and to the Son He says: “You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions.”

Notice the reason for the oil of gladness. It isn’t about birthday parties, festive occasions, sports, or any events, but is about a joy that Jesus has that is “more than” anyone else—and it comes from His love for goodness and His hatred for evil.

I think I enjoyed our day yesterday, not because the film was excellent and the rock climbing was fun, but because our activities were pure fun, no selfish, sinful stuff going on, just fun. The joy of Jesus was in it, and even if I couldn’t scale those walls like an ant on a pant leg, I enjoyed my puny efforts and the laughter of my family as they trustingly belayed one another up and down artificial mountainsides.

Those who think Christians have no fun are right—if fun is only doing stuff that mocks righteous living. However, fun for those who follow Jesus is more than that. When the Holy Spirit is involved, He gives two things: an increased capacity to enjoy life, plus His gladness about righteousness without lawlessness.

That made yesterday’s ‘fun’ intense and lasting. Sure, it did leave me with tired muscles, but I have no hangover or regrets, and nothing to apologize about before God.