God Is Not a C.P.A.

     Many Christians live their lives trying to make up for their past.  The devil continually whispers into their ear that they have a lot to pay for... way more than they will ever actually be able to make compensation for.  So, they set out to even the scales in their life by engaging in activities they believe will please God and somehow appease His wrath for all they did wrong before coming to Him.  They teach Sunday school classes, sing in the choir, give of their tithe, join the women's group, work in a local homeless shelter, and the list is endless.  Every day brings to their heart a new sense of "owing" God something more.  After a few years of feverish pursuit of good things to do, they begin to weary and grow discouraged.  Reality sets in.  The truth begins to stare them in the face:  "I will never be able to make up for all I did wrong in my life, so why am I even bothering to try?"  In total hopelessness and dismay, they simply give up trying and begin to drift away from God in despair.

     My friends, God is not a C.P.A. (a certified public accountant).  He does not sit on His heavenly throne with an account book that bears our name; He is not recording every bad deed or failure in our life to see if we will be able to do enough good things to outweigh them.  If we had been at all able to do that for ourselves, the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross of Calvary would have been in vain.  His death would have been a waste.  We would forever be possessed of an unbalanced account in the eyes of God.

     At the moment of our salvation-- that very instant in time when we realize our need for a Savior and ask Him to become the Master of our life-- right then all our past sin is wiped away; all our present and future sin is forgiven by virtue of His cleansing blood.  He did not just die for our yesterdays, but for our todays and our tomorrows as well.  And even more amazing is the fact that those sins have not only been erased from our balance sheet, but they have been erased from God's memory!  Scripture tells us, "as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." (Psalm 103:12)

     Our good works, those things we do in obedience to God's call on our lives, have a purpose and are in line with God's plan for us as believers.  However, it is crucial that we recognize that purpose is not to make up for what we've done wrong in the past.  Our good works will not purchase our way into heaven.  The Bible clearly states, "For it is by free grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation) through [your] faith.  And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God; not because of works [not the fulfillment of the Lawn's demands], lest any man should boast. [It is not the result of what anyone can possibly do, so no one can pride himself in it or take glory to himself.]" (Ephesians 2:8-9)

     But understand this: We have been recreated in Christ Jesus for the purpose of good works (Ephesians 2:10, Titus 2:11-14).  Our good works bring glory to God.  "Conduct yourselves properly (honorably, righteously) among the Gentiles, so that, although they may slander you as evildoers, [yet] they may by witnessing your good deeds [come to] glorify God in the day of inspection..." (I Peter 2:11).  They become a demonstration to the world of the living nature of our faith.  "What is the use (profit), my brethren, for anyone to profess to have faith if he has no [good] works [to show for it]?"  (James 2:14) 

     Balance is the key word here.  We must understand that God desires we do good things in honor and service to His creation, but those things are to be done from a heart that longs to please Him and benefit others, not a heart that is feverishly trying to make up for the past.  Our past has already been paid for.  Jesus paid the ransom for our souls.  His perfect sacrifice is our victory over what was and our entrance into what will be.  God is not a C.P.A., so stop wasting your time and energy trying to ensure that your account will be balanced by the time you are called to your final judgment.  In the words of a great Christian hymn:

And when before the throne I stand in Him complete,

"Jesus died my soul to save," My lips shall still repeat.

Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe.

Sin had left a crimson stain; He washed it white as snow! 

"Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool."  (Isaiah 1:18)