I have a tendency to try to "earn" favor with God. Yes, I know the Scriptures that have probably just run into your memory. It is not that I don't intellectually know the truth. I know that I can't earn any favor with God ("for by grace you have been saved"). I know that any favor I receive from God is not based on my actions but on His love ("For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life"). In my mind, I know the drill. The problem is not in what I know but in how I feel.
You see, I know me. I know so much about me. And I am really not worth the sacrifice that God provided on my behalf. It is hard for me to really understand that belief is enough. That Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection removed my sin burden for all eternity because I believe and confess Him as Lord. Surely, there must be more required of me than something so simple as belief. I must work harder because I haven't done enough to justify in my heart the agony of Christ. I must toil longer because it must have felt like an awfully long time to be hanging on that cross.
Yet God's word is simply "Believe". Now, this is not intended as an excuse to quit working for God. James tells us that faith without works is dead. The point may be subtle, yet it is very important. We are not saved by our works, but we are saved unto our works. We work out of a sense of obedience to our Lord, not out of a sense of earning our salvation. So, we are not called to believe and do nothing else, but at the same time, we must never get to the point where we think we are working in order to somehow be deserving of God's gift of salvation.
Legalism is an attempt to earn one's salvation by being "good enough". The Bible says we can't get there. So let's labor with joy because it pleases our Lord and not because it gets us anything.
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