I don’t know about you, but I seem to get things right for a while, then I stray. I start strong, then I just stop. I mean well, then I just fizzle. I’m up, then I’m down. I’m all in, then I’m tip toeing my way out. It’s as if I have this inner struggle that continually nags at me.
And I do. I really do. It’s called sin. Within me is sin and it causes me to fall short.
And honey, I don’t care how good you look on the outside, you have sin on the inside too. There’s a part of you that never measures up. A piece of you that battles on the inside that continually keeps you from doing everything right.
It’s why we struggle. It’s why we stray. It’s why we suffer.
Our legal relationship with God always leaves us failing. We simply can’t clean ourselves up and keep ourselves clean long enough to meet the standards of sinless. My works will never be good enough. And that is why God replaced a legal relationship with a pouring out of his grace. Grace covers this. Grace fills the gaps and makes up the distance for our shortcomings.
God extends his invitation of grace to you every day of your life. Honey, there’s grace for that. There’s grace for that regret. There’s grace for that shame. There’s grace for that failure. There’s grace for that mistake. And his grace is like a soothing oil that anoints our head.
Did you know that a shepherd will care for his sheep by pouring an oil over their heads that keeps the flies away? Flies will attack a sheep’s head and face so aggressively that they will literally beat their heads against a rock to try and get relief from the flies. But the shepherd’s oil brings relief and protection from the nagging flies. So that’s what David means when he writes in Psalm 23:5, “He anoints my head with oil.”
His oil is a grace that relieves us and protects us. All the things that bother us and leave us beating our own head are washed away with his offering of grace.
And make no mistake, he is offering that oil of grace to YOU. To anoint means to choose and bless. God has chosen YOU. His invitation is for you. He sees what has been bothering you. He knows how the enemy has been attacking. He is aware of your suffering. Now, let him anoint your head with the oil of his grace.
There’s absolutely nothing you have to do to prove yourself good enough to receive his grace. There’s nothing you have to do to be worthy of this oil. The only thing the sheep has to do to be saved by their shepherd is to quit running and let the shepherd rescue them. Wow – isn’t it the same for us. Jesus calls himself our good shepherd. We are his sheep. Just stop running. Let him rescue you.
It is your belief in Jesus that makes you worthy. It is your faith in the son of God that makes you good enough. Absolutely nothing else. There’s not a single work you could do that would be good enough to earn you righteousness. You will only be made right with God by faith in Jesus. (Anyone else a people pleaser and performer? Anyone else always trying to be good enough?)
Romans 3:22, “We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.”
That’s right – no matter who you are, no matter what you’ve done, no matter how many times you’ve messed this thing up, your faith in Jesus makes you right with God. But also the flip side of that coin. No matter how good you’ve been, no matter what good works you have done, you are only made right with God by your faith in Jesus. No matter who you are – it’s only Jesus.
Verse 25 says, “People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood.” Is that what you believe?