Pursue God. Live only for his glory. Make the right decisions. Don’t sin. Choose the right friends. Be efficient with your time. Serve God. You will personally stand before the judgment seat and you will answer for how you counted your days

What do you think? Is this the Christian life?

If it is, then what happens if you don’t? What happens if you went to the movies instead of reading your Bible? If you went out on inline skates instead of praying? If you “wasted” time listening to the Beatles?

What happens when you make a wrong decision? When you experience a distant spouse or an estranged child because of your sin?

The problem with a formulation of Christianity which focuses primarily and repeatedly on you is that it is no different from the world. The world says “be efficient.” The world says “choose the right friends.” The world even says “do good.” If you are good enough and try hard enough then you will satisfy whatever cosmic scales might be out there.

The main difference between Christianity and the world is not in the definition of moral behavior. The world has morals. The world doesn’t approve of rape, or murder, or overeating. We might have higher standards in areas, but it isn’t the fundamental difference, is it?

The problem is that the self-focus of the initial paragraph above misses entirely the point of the Gospel. The Gospel is not “in light of what God has done, get better.” The Gospel is not “choose wisely, or else.” The Gospel is certainly not “in light of eternity, make sure every one of your moments is used in the most efficient way.”

If you do forumalte Christian living this way, then your acceptance becomes about your works. Jesus is relegated to an authority figure, someone to please, someone who judges, someone who stands back and looks at your struggles and decides whether or not to be happy with you. He’s empowered you, perhaps, but that empowerment is static. He’s now waiting to see what you will do.

I don’t know this Jesus.

Before you hoist me on the nearest stake, let me qualify. Jesus has judged and will judge the world. He came to save the world, and the world will be judged in righteousness by him, because they reject him. In essence, they insist that their efficiency and good choices, relative to others, be judged. And like the Pharisee in Luke 18, they will not go away justified. They are trying to be righteous in themselves.

And we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Yet I still have to insist that my righteousness is found in Christ, and when my life plays out, it will be seen through the lens not of my moral choices but of my union with Jesus. This is the essence of the Gospel.

1 John 4:15 says that whoever confesses Jesus is the son of God, God abides in him. And so we have come to know, through Jesus, the love God has for us. So through trusting Jesus, God abides in us. It is in this way that love is perfected with us (through faith in Jesus!), so that we have “confidence for the day of judgment” (that’s the conclusion of 1 John 4:17).

Our confidence for the judgment is the same as our confidence in our everyday life: Jesus Christ has come, and he lived a perfect life and died for me and was raised… and I have the sure promise by trusting Jesus that I will be raised with him.

My life becomes about that mystery – Christ in me, the hope of glory – rippling through everything. I am not striving for crowns; I have been given crowns. I toss them at the feet of my savior, who has done it all. My works are responses to such a great salvation. My fruit is an outgrowth of being connected to the true vine. So it really isn’t “my” work or “my” fruit at all. It is the Spirit’s, done in me.

Can you see what bare behavioral resolutions miss? Even Christian ones? They miss that we are clothed now and forever by the righteousness of Jesus, that our consciences have been cleansed now and forever by his blood. Please don’t get back on the treadmill, and don’t let others – in confusion – push you back there.

Watch out for out-of-context proofs. “It is up to you,” goes the misguided argument. “You have been enabled. After all, you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.” Yet that verse, Philippians 4:13, isn’t speaking of you being now empowered to never sin again, or to choose the right friends, or to somehow be superwoman. That verse is speaking of maintaining hope in Christ in all situations. “I have learned to be content in all things,” says Paul in the preceding verse. Hunger, riches, every situation or circumstance no longer breeds discontent in him, because Jesus Christ is his everything. He’s not focusing on himself, that’s the ticket. He’s resting in Jesus.

Can’t you envision Paul enjoying Jesus while he feasts? And while he sits in a jail cell? Or in our modern context, while he’s out snowboarding or in a classroom, while praying or while kicking it on the beach? What he’s getting at is that in every situation he rests in Jesus.

But… can’t I want to be better? Of course you can… and will. And the pathway to better is not a self-focus but an increasing love of and gratitude toward Jesus. He doesn’t dole out shame; he took it on himself. He doesn’t say “show me you love me” but “I loved you even though you sin.” That savior draws you toward true love, for others and for him. May you rest in his arms, and trust in his love.

He’s the only hope we have. It is a good thing that he is the only hope we need.