Unfortunately, men and women, I think the telemarketer tally board is how many or most people see the God of the Bible and the Christian life. Even those who don’t believe that God is the great tally marker in the sky often slip into living that way when it comes to prayer, church, sharing Christ, doing good deeds, doing my job or not sinning. Trying to earn something from God based on how I perform on a given day. It’s easy for us to think that how God feels about us—whether or not He will accept us, love us and forgive each day—depends on how many spiritual tally marks we have next to our names. Have I done enough good things, have I have prayed enough or won the battle with sin on a given day, or have been a good father or husband or Christian? And even worse, it’s easy to feel like at the end of each day, all our past works don’t matter and we need to prove ourselves with enough tally marks again each day. And I think many or most of us can go through life like this as we relate to God whether we are a Christian or not. And I hope this morning that we would allow the Bible to remind us anew that we are only made worthy of anything before God by His free grace alone.
