Checklists & Witnesses

If you don’t want to settle for the window-dressing a lot of us now have in place of what Christianity truly is, then you're the one I mean to talk to and you're in the right place. I was not sent to convince you to be holy - others may have that role as their ministry but it’s not mine. I was sent to those who want to be holy but have simply given up because nothing has worked. I was sent to those who are still trying but are increasingly frustrated. I was sent to share where to apply your faith. 

The finished work of Christ mixed with your faith in said finished work changes everything.

A righteousness apart from the law has been revealed. 

Here’s another way to read that: You’ve thought that if you learned the do’s and don’ts you’d find your way to living better, being better and feeling more connected to God - you thought you would find righteousness. What happened? The things you wanted to do, you found yourself not doing; And, the things you didn't want to do you found yourself doing. The do's and don'ts were good, but you failed to keep them in your attempt to by them be righteous.

What if God could transport you to the finish line of righteousness first? What if instead of looking at the things that describe holiness as a guide you could be looking at those same things as what I would call “a witness”. A witness is after the fact; a witness confirms that the thing is there (or not there). I think a good way to illustrate this is to use a checklist. A checklist can be a guide, but it can also be a witness. Let me take your imagination to a hotel room. Your task, like others you work with, is to make the room ready for the next guest. You have a checklist, but you don't use it the same way your co-workers do. You are different. Other people use the checklist to make the room. Is the room dusted? Check. Is the room vacuumed? Check. Is the bed made? Check. Down the list they go. This list is how they are guided, but for you, it is proof (or a witness) that God guided you correctly. God says, "do the bed"; you do the bed. God says, "vacuum"; you vacuum... You achieve a perfect room without the checklist but when others (or you) check the list, it verifies (or it is a witness to the fact) that you have indeed made the room correctly. This is a righteousness apart from the law that is witnessed by the law. 

This is us.

This is you.

This is what faith is for. 

Someone asks: "What happens when I do as you say and it doesn't work? When I check the list I see that I missed so many things on the list. Wouldn't it have been better to check it first, or at least while I made the room - just to be sure?" 

I’m not saying to put away the Bible, I’m not saying to become your own source of authority. I’m saying that faith today is believing what God said he did: He put his spirit in you. If you start there you’ll find that you’ll be led. Faith is for believing in what we cannot see, and we cannot see our holiness (not this kind of innate holiness); we cannot see our righteousness ; but God is saying he has not only given it to us but has sent his spirit to maintain it within us.

We don't revert to depending on the Checklist because it (rightly) shows that we missed something. Go to the God of the list. 

"I missed this, this, and this, how can I do better?". 

I promise you, soon enough, you will check and see, "Wow, I got it! I'm hitting the mark!"

Faith makes you a winner ever before material evidence; but make no mistake, it produces material evidence. No one, and I repeat, "no one" who has ever depended on God in this way has ever been put to shame.

This faith will not only make a miracle of you, it will start making miracles “through” you. When you can believe God here, you can believe God in every sphere. 

God loves you. Go and win.