You Cannot Add, Without Taking From

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus… let us draw near with a TRUE HEART IN FULL ASSURANCE OF FAITH, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us HOLD FAST THE CONFESSION OF OUR HOPE WITHOUT WAVERING, for he who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:19, 22-23(ESV)

I heard a story told by Timothy Keller of a man named Nick who wanted to give a special gift to a friend who happened to be a carpenter by making him a table. He wanted the table to be perfect because he loved this carpenter so much, and he wanted to give him this wonderful gift. He worked and worked until the table was complete and finished to absolute perfection.

When Nick brought the gift to his carpenter friend, he looked at it, touched it, and picked up a piece of sandpaper, wanting to buff the table a little more. Nick put his hand over his friends and said, “The table is complete; it is finished. If you try and add one thing to it, you will be taking from it.”

There is a very real fear in believers that the gift of our salvation is like this table. Again and again, we want to take out the sandpaper and try to add to the perfect, completed gift of salvation. When Jesus died on the cross and uttered, “It is finished,” he meant it. He bore our sins, so we didn’t have to, yet so often, we add to this gift by trying to earn our way back to God when we have failed. The truth of our salvation covenant is that we cannot add to it without taking from its power.

We honestly come by this belief because we have never truly experienced the fullness of unconditional love here on earth. Our parents were supposed to love us unconditionally, but parental love is an earthly, flawed conditional love given by imperfect people. If you were married before a group of witnesses and signed a covenant to be faithful until “death do us part,” then perhaps you have experienced a deep, honoring faithful covenant of love. Your marital commitment is not tossed aside when you have a bad day or when you make a mistake. For many, this has not been the reality. However, even the most beautiful expressions of marital love here on earth are within a temporal, earthy covenant between two imperfect people.

How much greater then is this eternal promise, this new covenant of our salvation by the grace given to us by our Heavenly Father? It is an unbreakable covenant that is complete, perfect and finished. There is nothing we can add to it. There is no earning, or repaying, or striving that can make us worthy of it. It’s a gift, like this table, given to us freely by God to reconcile us to a relationship with him. It was the only way because we are sinful and broken, so Jesus made a way for us through himself alone.

God brought great conviction to my own wrestling with eternal security. As a young child, I believed that if I sinned, like even in the slightest ways, that I was separated from God and was destined for hell unless I repented. I went to the altar, again and again, rededicating my life to Jesus, striving and desperate to be in right standing with God and to be accepted by Him. As I grew older, this belief still permeated my relationship with God. I wrestled and strived to earn my salvation by trying so hard to be good enough for God.

One day the Lord whispered into my spirit, “Why are you trying to save yourself through earning? Was the sacrifice of my son not enough for you?” I was absolutely shocked! I felt a deep sense of conviction and revelation come over me as I realized the utter pride in my heart that actually believed that I could make myself worthy of God’s salvation through works, striving and earning. I fell to my knees and surrendered that pursuit once and for all. A weight fell off my shoulders that I was never meant to bear because Jesus had already borne it all on himself.

This matters so much because we cannot grasp the power of this great love, this commitment and the promise that God has given us in salvation. We think it is so fragile that we must cleanse ourselves before coming back to God, thus allowing shame to be a barrier between us and God as we continually try to add to this gift by doing good or trying to make up for the wrongs we have done. It is finished, and you can receive it with absolute assurance today.

Recognition of our sin through confession and repentance is God’s way to healing. However, we must not confuse our wrestle with sin as a condition of the covenant promise of salvation. Rest in the assurance of your salvation. Do not try to save yourself by adding to Jesus’ gift and promise. Jesus made a way for you because there is nothing you could ever have done to save yourself. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV

Dear Holy Spirit,

I pray for a revelation of the gift of the assurance of our salvation. We had experienced the power of our salvation when we received you, but now Lord, would you fill us with the assurance of our salvation so that we don’t try to add one bit of earning to this free gift that you have given us. We repent for trying to be our own saviour. Thank you for your powerful grace. Amen.