Done

In repentance and rest is your salvation.

I love the word "done." Checking items off my ever growing "to do" list is always satisfying. Change car oil, done! Balance check book, done! Get hair cut, done! It always feels good to see accomplishment and completion.

It's been said that Christianity can be spelled "DONE." Every other world religion is spelled "DO." Jesus Christ paid the penalty for sin and accomplished on the cross what I could not do for myself. And as he cried out, "It is finished," he purchased and completed my salvation. The penalty is paid; my salvation has been purchased; it is done. Every other religion requires a person to do something to earn their way to God. In Jesus, it is done.

Isaiah 28:13 speaks of the futility of trying to "do" enough to please a holy God. "Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there - so that they will go and fall backward, be injured and captured." Isaiah 28:16 goes on to present the solution to our dilemma. "So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed." Jesus Christ is our sure foundation and tested stone. I can trust in him.

As much as I love the word "done," I continually fall into the trap of believing that I have to "do" something to please God. Isaiah 29:13 goes on to talk about the trap of "doing" versus "being." "The Lord says: These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men." It's so easy to confuse proximity with intimacy. God desires my heart, I give him my lip service. God desires a relationship, I settle for compliance.

In the busyness of my day, I need to remember that there is nothing I can do to add to what God has already done for me. I need to remember the cross. I need to remember that Jesus paid the price for my salvation. I need to remember that there is nothing I can ever do to cause him to love me more.

I love checking things off my "to do" list. Forgiveness of my sin, done. Reconciliation of myself with God, done. Promised inheritance in heaven, done. A life transformed by Christ, done!