Earning Is Over

Jesus earned entirely everything for us for entirely nothing from us. In Him we have been given every blessing already. (See Ephesians 1:3-8.) Believing that fact is the challenge—earning it is not. Anything that teaches less than that makes us crazy.

The gospel loses its majesty when Christians believe they must work or serve or tithe in order to earn blessings from God. We become like elder brothers of the prodigal, working in the fields to earn what we have already been given. However, we live best when we live by faith in the complete sufficiency of what Christ did for us.

So if you’re a little bit crazy lately concerning how you’re doing with God, consider that you may have taken up earning and performance as a way of estimating your worthiness. That’s not for you because that’s not Christian. The earning is all done, and all is given. You can rest.