Our Problem with Grace

If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more… But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.

Philippians 3:4, 7-9

The natural man has a problem with the gospel. Grace sounds great, but we prefer works. We want to build our own righteousness so that we can establish our independence from God: What does God want from me? Just tell me what I have to do. Tell me what it will cost me.

Believing the gospel goes against all the instincts of our nature. The hardest thing about grace is that we don’t want it. Some of us have spent years trying to pay our dues to God, and hearing that you can’t do it doesn’t sound like good news.

That’s where Paul was: “If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more” (3:4). Maybe that is where you are too. You’ve been trying to establish your own right standing with God. But now you see that it is all a house of cards. It is not too late for you. Put your faith in Christ, so that you can have a new righteousness that is from God and by faith.

Have you seen your need of God’s grace in Christ? Or are you still trying to pay your own way and earn God’s favour?