Have you noticed how we seem so intent upon making things more complicated than they really are or how we try to add more and more to simple things until they become very far from simple? Like, for instance, our salvation.
Separated from God by a price we cannot pay. Sin so deeply ingrained within our being that even our thoughts - even the brief ones - are sinful and more than enough to condemn us even if we did not start miles in arrears. The solution? God, being the only One who could pay such a debt, did so on our behalf through Christ Jesus who has paid that debt in full for us. We accept this fact through faith and that faith is given to us by God in the first place (Eph.2:8). So we no longer have to rely upon whatever sick version of righteousness or holiness or sinlessness that we have due to our own efforts as we now have a righteousness that has come directly from God, given to us by His amazing grace.
Seems simple enough.
So why, pray tell, do we seem to think we need to add to it? Why do we nod and agree with "the just shall live by faith" and add on something about our own efforts like that was some kind of implied extra? Why do think we have to earn the grace we have been shown or that if we screw up God is going to change His mind - like the cross of Christ were not enough somehow? How can we think - even in fantasy - that we, by some effort of our own, can rid ourselves of the sin which runs within the very core of our DNA? For if such were true that we could by some great effort of self denial and strictest adherence to the law accomplish such a feat, then Christ died for nothing. And I tell you this: my Lord did not die for nothing, anymore than He rose for nothing.
I remember an acronym from my school days: KISS - Keep It Simple, Stupid. I think perhaps we need to remember that a bit more often.
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