It's Already Done
Christian, you are absurdly rich in Christ!
You wake up tomorrow and discover that an anonymous donor has given you a free gift of ten million dollars. What’s more, he’s set up investment accounts in your name so that even if you squander his gift, you can live comfortably and securely for the rest of your life without working. You find that your bills are all paid from this account, your mortgage is paid off, and any student loans are wiped clean. You also find that a mechanic came overnight and has completely tuned up your car so that it will run smoothly for another 150,000 miles.
More than that, you get a letter from this donor saying that when you retire, he has a private villa prepared for you to live in, with you, your family, and any friends who want to join you. You receive invitations to come and celebrate every holiday with his own family, and you aren’t expected to provide anything but yourself; and when you do bring something, everyone makes it out to be the best part of the meal, even if it was just a small store-bought dish. All his family genuinely loves you, and they delight to include you in everything.
Through this donor, the best lawyer in the world is hired on permanent retainer in your name, and he advocates for you in any kind of legal dispute such that you know you’ll never have to fear any accusation ever again. A little later on, you learn that this donor is also running a comprehensive PR campaign for you as well, telling everyone in his contacts list how excited he is to know you. And after learning all this, you receive a handwritten letter from this donor that reads, “If you need anything else, just ask, and I’ll move heaven and earth to take care of you.”
What do you do? How long does it take for you to realize that this offer is genuine? When does it “click,” and you realize that you have every one of your deepest desires, that every need is lavishly met, and that you never have to earn anything ever again?
And why, if this is true for us, do we live like it isn’t?
Romans 8:31-32 ESV
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”
The last couple of months I’ve been paralyzed by the fear that I’m wasting my life. An irrational thought, maybe, but none the less formidable. Despite the frequent reassurances from godly counsel that I am, in fact, doing everything that could be expected of me at this age, I can’t shake the feeling that they’re all missing what is abundantly clear to me:
- That I’m actually a total fraud, squandering away my best years;
- That God is frequently disappointed in how I apportion my time;
- And that the only hope I have to please God is to work so much harder than I already am.
It’s a suffocating and disquieting way to live, an extraordinarily heavy weight to carry.
And it’s entirely unnecessary.
Because if that story a few paragraphs up was true for me, I can tell you that I wouldn’t feel pressured to work another day in my life. Oh, can you imagine being totally free of all worries, choosing each day’s activities without worry or constraint, knowing that every need is richly and abundantly met? How unbelievable that would be if it were true!
And yet it is true. That inheritance is yours.
God has richly poured out every blessing on you and me, and evaporated the power of all our deepest fears. Nothing can separate; nothing can destroy. You have such a donor, except he isn’t anonymous. He has provided you with riches, a future, a home, a family, love, safety, belonging, and rest. Any problem you can anticipate has already been answered in your favor. You won’t find the riches of Christ in your bank account or driveway, but they’ll outlast every market, country, and kingdom on earth. You don’t need to earn anything else ever again. You already have it all.
You’ve won.
What you’ve won is like the best lottery in the world – and you didn’t even know you had entered. You thought you came to Jesus just because you were so bad; you probably never imagined that he could treat you so good. And because of what he’s done for you, you’re untouchable. There is no problem that his riches and advocacy can’t shatter like clay. You are forever safe, forever secure. You have the ultimate advocate. You have an infinite inheritance. Your future is invincibly secure.
When you are in Christ, no worry or hurt you suffer can ever outweigh the magnitude of his gift – your salvation. In Christ, you’re a spiritual millionaire. More than that, even; for the best part of the gift is Christ himself, and his value is beyond all measuring.
Romans 8:38-39 ESV
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
I don’t know what you would do the day after you find ten million dollars in your bank account, but I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t go back to your job at the shoelace factory. And when it comes to your biggest problem, there’s nothing left to do – it’s already done! You’ve won the lottery. It’s right there, sitting in your account, ready to use. No matter your problems, you have enough buoyancy to stay afloat through any trouble.
Just as that gift from the donor would give you impenetrable material security, the gift of God in salvation gives you an impenetrable spiritual security. And while the material will pass away, the spiritual is eternal. The steadfast love of God means that you can’t ruin your life more than he can save it. It means that you can’t waste your life so much that he can’t redeem it. It means you can never yourself dig so deep that he’ll give up on you. Nothing can separate.
And nobody else can separate you either. No, nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ. God is for you! So who or what on earth could be against you? You’re safe.
We may fear the offer of that donor. We fear it because we didn’t earn it, we don’t deserve it, and we can’t control it. But this gift being beyond our earning means it’s beyond our ruining as well. It’s yours – forever! Christ signed the contract in his own blood so that nothing could ever break or undermine it. And because you are ridiculously, stupidly, abundantly rich in Christ... you can rest.
Yes, rest. Rest from your need for validation, from your striving towards nothing, from that aching desire that’s burning a hole in your heart. Rest from every injustice you face, every hurt you feel, every trial you endure. Come to Jesus, accept his gift, and find your rest in him. He is gentle and lowly in spirit, and he dwells with the weak and downtrodden. He is absurdly rich, and loves nothing more than giving all his wealth away.
So yes, I am weary from all my striving.
But I rejoice in the finished, invincibly secure work of Christ.
And I am anxious of my spiritual poverty.
But I rejoice in the incomprehensibly vast riches of Christ.
I lament the man that I have failed to be.
But I rejoice in the relentless, unassailable love of Christ that covers all of my failure.
For nothing can separate you, nothing can condemn you, and nothing can impoverish you. You can’t enrich yourself any more – you already have it all! You can’t break it, lose it, or spend too much of it. You don’t need to be cautious, or tepid, or restrained with this gift. Draw from his riches as much as you need, take unrestrainedly from his mercy and grace, dive into his oceans of love without caution or reserve. You’re free to enjoy the gift for the rest of your life, or to work unpressured for pleasure, or to give the gift to others around you. The choice is yours.
The only choice that doesn’t make sense is to keep working and striving like you have anything left to earn.
Because there isn’t anything left to earn.
It’s already done.
The signed in blood part made me think of an unbreakable guarantee for us from Christ in the presence of the ultimate notary and guarantor, God. How can anyone or anything break an inheritance agreement like that? I can’t—it’s foolproof and impenetrable. Our enemy’s fiery darts should bounce right off us as they do it. Good words, brother.
How I need to focus on walking by faith, not sight. But why don't we talk about that, even at church? That is, as you say, true reality. Thank you for this. But even trying to understand by faith takes faith.