Contentment ≠ Complacency
The Christian Call to Excellence
“7:15!” I call out from the kitchen.
“Okay,” he answers from upstairs.
“7:20!” I warn.
“Okay,” he replies again.
“7:25…Really need t’leave!”
“I know!” he yells.
As we pull out of the driveway (five minutes later), I suppress a lecture. I know it will only make things worse. “What can we do to help you get to school on time?” I gently ask instead. “I don’t know. I just hate school. I don’t ever want to go.”
“I’m so sorry,” I quietly offer.
And then, silence.
After a few minutes, he lets it all out. “I start out the year wanting to do well, and then I don’t know what happens. I have no motivation. And the teachers make us feel like if we don’t get As we’re worthless. I can’t get As, so why bother? I’m just not smart enough. Or maybe I’m just too lazy.”
Almost to the school’s entrance, I want him to know three things before he gets out of the car. “First of all,” I say firmly, “you are plenty smart enough. Second, your worth is not tied to your grades. It’s tied to Jesus and He says you’re worth dying for. And third, you are loved—dearly. Always remember that.”
Striving for Love
I remember a time when I believed my worth was tied to extrinsic modes of measurement. As the oldest of three, I display classic “first born” character traits. I’ve always been driven to perform well, whether in the classroom or on the field, in my duties, responsibilities, and roles, in relationships and in my parenting. I cannot settle for mediocrity, and this striving has also led me to feelings of inadequacy and a pressure to reach perfection.
But where did this inner drive come from? Who was I trying to please? or impress? When I try to pinpoint the source, the voice of the inner critic is who I find. It was that voice who never let me rest. Pushing me to exhaustion. Setting unattainable goals. Who was never content with my achievements. Who relentlessly pursued self-improvement. (All which eventually led to self-sabotage, people-pleasing, burnout, and attempts to cope with tobacco and alcohol.)
It took many years of unraveling the tapestry of my story to see myself with clarity and to silence the inner critic. It took the determined, patient, unconditional love of my husband. And it took a deeper understanding of God’s grace.
The Unmerited Favor of God
In one of his penitential psalms, Psalm 6, David seems to go quite suddenly from crying for mercy to an assurance of pardon. From verse 1, we read “O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.” And just eight verses later in verse 9, we read “The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer.”
I began to meditate on the idea of assurance, particularly our assurance of pardon, and with it, our assurance of salvation. How did David sense the Lord’s forgiveness? How did he know he was in right relationship with the Lord once again? And as a Christian, how can I be assured of the Lord’s forgiveness?
The apostle John teaches us in 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” The Lord is faithful and will do what He says He will do. We can depend on it. But He is also just (right) to forgive us when we confess. How so? (Paul taught “the wages of sin is death” after all.)
He is just to forgive us because the sin of those in Christ has already been punished on the cross. Romans 6:23 teaches us that death is what we’ve earned, but eternal life is given to us freely through the saving work of Christ’s atoning sacrifice.
Misunderstood Grace
Trying to alleviate some of the pain in my neck and shoulders, I scheduled a massage with someone I discovered to be a former student only after the massage was underway. (“You look familiar…”) Once the awkwardness of the situation passed, we began to share the directions our lives had taken in the 15 years since leaving school.1 The topic of faith emerged and with it the many and varied questions one often receives from people who never quite “got it.” One of which was “If I don’t have to earn it, why would I ever try to make God happy? Wouldn’t I just run around doing whatever I wanted to?”
And this, I believe, is what 20th century German theologian and pastor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer meant by “cheap grace.”
Two false ideas can emerge when we misunderstand what grace is and what we are called to do in light of receiving it. One is the idea that grace is a free ticket to licentiousness (how my former student understood it); and the second is a belief that grace is a ticket to slovenliness. Both are wrong and disastrously presume on God’s goodness.
The Heresy of Quietism
In an inspiring teaching on excellence in the 1970s, Pastor R.C. Sproul said, “Never in the history of the Christian Church has there been so great an evangelical awakening with, at the same time, such a little impact on the culture in which it is manifesting itself.”2 How can people in so great a number develop an intense interest in evangelicalism but make little to no impact on their surrounding culture? Sproul says it is through “the heresy of quietism.”
Because we can never earn or achieve salvation through our own merit, people begin to believe “oh well then…I don’t have to strive…it’s all God…I’ll just rest in grace.” They believe the myth that has permeated the Christian community: that grace means the end of work or labor or effort. Christians make little to no impact on their culture when they believe their faith is a quiet, personal possession and grace removes them from any serious call to excellence.
Forceful Men Lay Hold of It
On the contrary, Christians are not called to a life of slumber and ease but are instead called to “Herculean efforts of discipline,” says Sproul. As Christians, we must “outthink, outfight, and outlove the world. And that is a tall order.”
In this teaching, Pastor Sproul offered an insightful take on Matthew 11:12 which reads: “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.”
I always equated Jesus’ use of forceful men here with the violence and opposition Jesus (and his followers) faced, but Sproul suggested that the forceful men here are those who seek God’s Kingdom with determined perseverance.
I was reminded of this idea just today when someone in my Sunday School class quoted theologian D.A. Carson:
“People do not drift toward Holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord.”
In short, that which is godly must be doggedly pursued. Holiness is not something we find ourselves practicing by accident.
Those who take seriously their call to please God aren’t casual in their pursuit of His Kingdom. They push and push until they break through.
My son is in his third year of piano lessons, and I have thoroughly enjoyed watching him progress in skill and talent. He’s currently working on a very complicated piece (of his choosing) and each week his teacher encourages him to continue working through the challenging sections. She said, “It’s often when we’re met with the kind of difficulty that makes us want to quit, a breakthrough is right around the corner.”
In a similar vein, Sproul teaches, “What it takes to achieve excellence, more than anything else, isn’t talent—but perseverance.”
The Motivation for Excellence
A temptation I must work to resist is looking to the world to satisfy my soul’s needs, and writing about these ways has been helpful for me. But contentment and resting in the Lord does not mean that I no longer need to “work out my salvation.” Contentment ≠ complacency.
Before understanding God’s grace, I strived for excellence not to be worthy of God’s calling on my life, but to be found worthy by others. Being thought well of by my peers was of utmost importance because I wasn’t sure of my place in the world. I was not resting in my identity as a child of God, Creator of that world.
It’s been a difficult, but rewarding, switch to pursue excellence not in order to secure the love and acceptance of others, but because I want to please the One who loves and accepts me as His.
Part of our growth in sanctification is to appreciate excellence wherever it manifests itself as this reflects the order and harmony of God’s character. Each believer has been spiritually gifted and is called to develop these gifts and offer them back to God in service to Him.
We therefore find our soul’s contentment in the Lord and work hard to offer Him our first fruits—the finest fruits of our labor—out of hearts full of love and gratitude for who He is and what He has done for us.
Love is a fierce motivator. As R.C. Sproul puts it: “The essence of theology is grace; the essence of Christian ethics is gratitude. That’s the motivation for excellence.” And when Christians, fueled by a heart full of love for the Lord, use their God-given gifts in the world, the impact they make will be lasting and powerful.
“Let your light shine among men,
that they may see your good deeds
and praise your Father in heaven.”
Matthew 5:16
One of the consequences of teaching and living in the same county is running into former students all over the place! Fortunately, I loved my students and seeing many of them ten and twenty years later has been a joy! I’m even honored to call a few of them dear friends.
All quotes from R.C. Sproul in this essay are from this teaching on Renewing Your Mind.
There’s so much I love about this post! Once I saw Bonhoeffer’s name, I knew some gold nuggets of wisdom were in store. Yet, toggling in the “forceful” diction of Matthew 11 solidified your message for me. A flashback to singing Onward Christian Soldiers in children’s choir emerged as my earliest connection to this concept. Pantomimes of infantry marching, calvary riding, and airplane arms entangled with my earliest questions: why is this a battle? why this analogy? It’s become quite obvious after 30 years in the faith. Thank you for the reminder and the call to action.
Great post! Love how you call attention to how Grace can be so misunderstood, as well as the significance of our motivation for excellence.