Day 50: Don’t Live For a Checklist

Read: Romans 9:30-33

It is so easy to live life, just checking things off a list. I am an organized person, I am one of those people who instantly updates my planner whenever I have new projects or there are changes to my deadlines.

I used to have two kinds of lists in life:

Practical: Homework, spend time with my family and friends, work, have a meal, work out, do my chores.

Spiritual: Go to church, teach Sunday school, tithe, do my devotions, pray.

There was nothing wrong with my lists; they kept me together and kept my life together. The issue was with the reason I was doing what was on these lists. I thought these were the things “good” people did. I was doing what I was taught a Christian should do. I felt like I needed to check off all those things in order to be an actual Christian.

Romans 9:30-32 says, “Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works.”

In this passage, Paul is pointing out the fatal flaw the people of Israel were making. They were stuck in the past, following the old law. They weren’t listening to the fact that life didn’t revolve around their good works, but that it was through faith that they would be saved.

We have to be careful not to reverse the order. We need to remind ourselves is that good works are a result of being saved, not the other way around.

A way we can show our faith and dedication to God is through bearing fruit, which doesn’t happen unless we are living our lives for Him. What I’ve had to learn is to strive to live a life pleasing to God. I’ve chosen to have the faith to trust Him with everything that happens in my life. By doing this, I am no longer in a state of mind of checking off my list in order to be considered the “Christian” I thought I had to be.

Have you ever been in a season in life where everything you did was because as a Christian, you felt like you had to? If so, take time today to confess the sin of living for yourself. I hope and pray that this can be a reminder of Who we are all living for. Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God.