Because Of, Not So That

Somewhere along the way in my Christian journey, I picked up a functional belief that I obeyed God and His word so that I would keep or earn His favor. So that He would love me more. So that He would be more proud of me. I remember saying once that obedience was God’s love language after studying 1 John. I was missing the deepest part of obedience and its connection with God. It was because of all the things that He had done that I obey, not so that I keep, earn, or continue in His love. This one phrase, because of – not so that, revived a whole new part of me with God, and my heart exploded in gratitude and love.

On paper, I would never have written that I earned God’s love as a belief statement. If someone asked me about works and my salvation I would have explained my position that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone. So where and how did this subtle functional belief creep in?

It came from unchecked thoughts of viewing God through my lens as a doer, from rules centered teaching, and my personal study where I read the Word with the wrong view of my role in sanctification. Although those practices were all good, important things to have in my life, I was missing was the correct view of my position in Christ to overlay them. I had myself central to gospel transformation. When the responsibility rests on me the joy of the gospel diminishes. He already has made me righteous, I am not making myself more righteous as explained Romans 5:19, “For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.“

I’m sure I spoke that sanctification was a so that theology. I know I unintentionally lived like it. I lived like I had to live up to the gospel transformation in my life. John Piper described sanctification as walking out what I already am. I don’t need to live up to the calling, I need to live out the calling. It’s not live this way so that I will earn God’s favor or blessing, but live this way because of His favor and blessing. I had the motivation backward.

The check-in my spirit, and maybe yours, comes from all the 1000+ verses in the New Testament that tell me to walk worthy of my calling, or that you will know they are my children by _____. When I read these commands now, I grasp them from the positional thinking that it is because of what He has done I do these things, not so that I am worthy. I do these commands not that I will become a child of God, but because I already am a child of God. It’s my new nature. It’s a subtle change of words that lead to a huge motivational and focus shift. Grasping this truth has truly, deeply changed me.

It changed my parenting language. It changed how I talk about works and righteous lifestyles. It changed how I interacted with those 1000+ “to do” verses that fill the pages of the New Testament. It changed how I viewed myself and helped me relish in the position and identity I am given in Christ. Most profoundly it increased my desire to know God more as I deeply felt accepted and unconditionally loved, feeling that in His presence there truly is freedom. The striving could cease, and instead, it could be replaced with the power to be what I already am.

Ephesians 5:1 " Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, BECAUSE you are His dear children."