You Can’t Do It On Your Own

Do you feel like the hammer is going to drop? Like you’re on borrowed time, waiting for all of your mistakes to catch up to you?

You work hard to do the right thing. You know the rules, and you know what it takes to keep them. But there are just too many. You’re bound to mess it all up.

And we keep messing up. It seems like the harder we try to be our best, the more mistakes we make. Then we try harder, and it’s a never-ending cycle of guilt and shame. All of our efforts to fix ourselves fail.

What is it about us that wants to be able to say we did it ourselves? We worked our way to the top. We earned it. We can do it all on our own. It’s engrained in us by society, human nature, and our pride.

Think of the messages:

Pick yourself up by your bootstraps

Just do it

Climb the ladder

If it’s to be, it’s up to me

You are the master of your own destiny

Bet on yourself

Combine those with an out-of-context Philippians 4:13, and we’ve got a self-sufficiency problem.

This way of thinking is what makes faith so hard for us to grasp—and not only grasp, but allow to define our way of living.

The Bible beats faith into our heads over and over and over—you can’t possibly read the Book and believe that the answer is anything other than faith. But just because it’s in our heads doesn’t mean it’s in our hearts.

Somewhere along the path from our heads to our hearts, it gets hijacked. It’s the reason Paul writes the letter to the Galatians. He actually calls them “foolish” for being “bewitched.” They had heard first-hand of Jesus’ death and resurrection and received the Spirit of God by faith. But they were back to trying to earn right-standing themselves. Paul attempts to set the record straight with just about every argument and illustration possible. And it’s going to take every bit of it to make a dent.

One of his tactics is to flip the script—play devil’s advocate, if you will. Let’s say that you are in fact justified by your own works and keeping up with all the rules of the law. What if it was true that you could earn it by being good?

“But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.’”

Galatians 3:10 NLT

Why doesn’t this work? Because we can’t keep all of the rules! We already know this and feel the weight of this every day. If you break one law, it’s as if you’ve broken all of them. True rightness requires perfection.

“Cursed” is a strong word. It’s the opposite of “blessed.” Right before this verse, Paul tells the Galatians that if they are people of faith, they are blessed right beside Abraham. But they are cursed if they depend on themselves. Cursed not only in terms of punishment, but cursed to stay on the hamster wheel of striving.

“So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, ‘It is through faith that a righteous person has life.’” 

Galatians 3:11 NLT

It couldn’t be more clear that it won’t work that way. It’s an impossible endeavor that we’d die trying to accomplish. Paul is quoting Habakkuk here, and the original text reads: “The righteous shall live by his faith” (2:4 ESV) To be righteous is to live by faith. Period.

“This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, ‘It is through obeying the law that a person has life.’”

Galatians 3:12 NLT

This answer is completely different from what we’d expect. We expect to be given rules to follow, which will make us right. Instead, we are given rules to prove how incapable we are of actually fulfilling them and saving ourselves.

“But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’ Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith.”

Galatians 3:13-14 NLT

The good news is that we don’t have to keep trying to make it work. We don’t have to keep tabs, earn stripes, or forge our path. We were never going to save ourselves. The curse that was meant for you was laid on Jesus. When He picked up the curse, we picked up the blessing. And the only way to get there is through faith.

“Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.”

Hebrews 11:1 NLT

We struggle with the concept because we can’t put our hands around it. There isn’t a checklist for it. It can hardly be defined or explained. Faith is the intangible, yet complete, trust in God, who we cannot see but are convinced exists. Not only that, but it’s the placing of our hope in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins.

It’s faith. Full stop. There are no “faith and” or “faith, but”s. At the end of the day—rather—the end of your life, it’s where did you place your faith?

So when you’re feeling the weight of the curse, when your list of “wrongs” is longer than your list of “rights,” when you are wondering if the punishment is going to finally arrive for all the bad things you’ve done, take a minute to evaluate your faith. Is your faith in your own doing? Is your faith in the perception of others? Is your faith in the literal or figurative list of rules?

Or is your faith in Jesus who, on the cross, withstood the curse for you, who experienced the highest level of punishment for your sin, and who hand-delivered your right-standing with God the moment you trusted Him?

Your curse is now a blessing.

Your punishment is now paid.

Your mistakes are now and forever covered.

Your faith is your future.

We will likely spend every day of the rest of our lives trying to let go of our efforts and rely on the cross. We must choose faith. There is nothing we could do that could add or take away from what’s already been done for us. But it’s up to us to live like it.

What area have you been trying to work out on your own?

What verse(s) stir your faith?

Who can you share this with?

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What I’m Using:

• OWYN Cookies and Creamless Protein Shakes

If you are looking to avoid whey protein like I am, don’t sleep on this shake (in this flavor/form only—trust me). I am very picky on protein shakes. This one tastes amazing, goes down so easy, has added greens and no artificial anything—allergy friendly.

What I’m Listening To:

• Not Going Anywhere by Rita Springer

• How To Create a New Version of Yourself: Let Go of Past Mistakes & Overcome Regret by Mel Robbins + Sarah Jakes Roberts

What I’m Reading:

• The Soul of Desire by Dr. Curt Thompson

• Upon Waking by Jackie Hill Perry

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