By Bro. Daniel Alexander
In The Beginning
Now, where did this mindset of self-effort come from? Meet Lucifer, the architect behind this. Before becoming the bad guy (Satan), Lucifer held a top position in Heaven. Here is a description of who he was before his fall:
“You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created. – (Ezekiel 28:12-13 NKJV)
He was the granddaddy of bling!
Now look at his position:
“ You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you. – (Ezekiel 28:14-16 NKJV)
But look at what led to his lightning fast exit (Luke 10:18) from Heaven:
For you have said in your heart: ‘ I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ – (Isaiah 14:13-14 NKJV)
He was the anointed cherub who guarded the glory throne. It was God who placed him (Ezekiel 28:14) there. Yet, he had the nerve to say in his heart, that he “will be”, when he “already was”. This is the root of the “I don’t have it or regardless of what I have in Jesus, I am going to earn it with my effort” mindset.
Garden Of Eden
Fast forward to the temptation at the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were already made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27) and God gave them dominion power over all the His creation (Genesis 1:28). Satan played his ‘independence from God’ card with Eve. ‘Eat this and you shall be like gods’. It never was God’s desire for the man to live by knowing good and evil or right and wrong (in other words, law) - which is why He gave the only command to not eat from the tree of good and evil. But man’s free will overrode God’s command.
Jesus Tempted
Jump over to the where he tempted Jesus (see Luke 4:1-13). “If You are the Son of God…” (Luke 4:3). The very thing that Jesus knew while growing up (Luke 2:49) and heard crystal clear during His baptism (Luke 3:21-22). But no, the devil wanted Jesus to prove what He already was by doing something. The Creator of the universe (Col 1:16-17) could turn those stones into a ten-course meal in a nanosecond, but that was not the point. He knew who He was, even though He was in the wilderness and was hungry. Note that the Satan used the scriptures to tempt him.
Today
Those who put their sole trust in Jesus is saved, healed, prosperous and holy, in Jesus. He cannot add an iota to Jesus’ perfection. But what is the typical believer bombarded with? - “If you want to be healed, fast for 21 days!”, “If you want to be financially prosperous, sow a seed”, “If you want to be holy, fast for 40 days”; and/or variations of this. And thus begins the never-ending journey of self-effort. Always active like the Energizer bunny, but the engine that drives these actions is insecurity, which is birthed from the ignorance of what happened to them (2 Corinthians 5:17, Gal 2:20, Rom 5:19), when they put their trust in Christ Jesus. I am not at all against activity, but the question is, what is the driving force? Is it God (Phil 2:13), or the insecurity birthed from the lack of knowledge of what has been freely (Rom 8:32) provided at the Cross? A person who puts his trust in Jesus Christ is righteous, saved, forgiven, sanctified, prospered and healed in Jesus; period! There is nothing he or she can do about it. The negative circumstances can neither dictate nor alter one's identity in Christ Jesus. The fact that Jesus was in the wilderness and that He hungered did not change His identity. He knew Who His Daddy was. Do we? If you have a hint of doubt, read John 1:12-13.
The defeated Satan has only one trick in his book. And it is very effective. Why must he improvise when the weapon is effective? His ploy is to get people from trusting God as a child would and trust in their effort of keeping the laws and high-sounding principles in order to be blessed when they already are blessed in Jesus. He uses the scriptures to lure people to adopt his mindset, just like he used scriptures to tempt Jesus. He does not have to invent new un-biblical doctrines for this purpose. If he did, then it would be easy to identify the deception. But a deception is called deception because we fail to see it’s true color and as a result, we unknowingly walk in to its trap.
No matter how hard a person tries, he falls short of the perfection that God requires. There isn’t a margin for error in God’s book. We either keep ‘em all or we break ‘em all (James 2:10). If we were bright enough to keep the commands, then there was not a need for Christ Jesus (Gal 2:21). The only person that fulfilled all the commandments is JESUS. I have to be foolish to not trust in that Savior, the only person who can save me from my predicament of never-ending treadmill of self-effort.
In Conclusion
“But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” – 2 Corinthians 11:3
The Gospel is powerful beyond our wildest imaginations. It is simple. We could do nothing to earn our salvation or other blessings. The last Adam, Jesus came and did it for us. He did not stop there. He still does it through us (John 15:5). Therefore, let us get off of the futile Do-Do mindset and renew our minds with who we already are, in Christ Jesus. Trust in Him and guided by His Holy Spirit, we will do what He wants us to do according to His good pleasure (Phil 2:13).