Before I put my faith/trust in the life and death of Christ – I had a problem…really two problems. First, my behavior, because it was sinful, created alienation from God. Isaiah 59:2 describes this, “But your iniquities have separated you from your God.”
But this was not my only problem – God judges and punishes sin, and so I was a condemned person. Alienated and condemned – that was my relationship with God when the basis of my relationship with Him was my behavior…my trying…my effort…or lack thereof.
But then God in His grace sends Jesus and Jesus does two things. He lives a sinless life and then on the cross takes my place and is punished for my sin…he experiences the judgement of God in my place.
So what does it mean to become a Christian, to trust Christ, to believe in Christ? Two things. It means I am now going to trust in the sinless life of Christ and in the death of Christ in my place as the basis of my relationship with God…no longer is the basis of my relationship my behavior or my ability to please Him.
Now, and this is so important – just as I depend on the life and death of Christ as the basis of my relationship with God, so God depends on the life and death of Christ as the basis of His relationship with me. Just as I no longer depend on my behavior as the basis of my relationship with God, so God no longer depends on my performance as the basis of His relationship with me!
The implications of this are huge and we will unpack these in the blogs to follow.
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