The Lie of Self-Redemption

Understanding and accepting that we do not deserve salvation is one of the most important factors in making our salvation real to us. It is impossible to fully come to this place as long as we harbor the idea, either consciously or unconsciously, that we have any worthiness in and of ourselves.

Today many human beings think themselves worthy of Heaven. Many others think that they are on their way to being worthy, through their own effort. To some degree we are all born with this lie embedded in our souls. It is part of the inordinate pride inherent in our fallen condition. Some might even say that this belief is the essence of the curse we have lived under since the Garden. Its only antidote is the hard remedy that comes with the conviction of our hearts by the Holy Spirit. We are confronted by a new knowledge of ourselves, the awareness that we are not good people and never have been. Accepting the truth of this is one of the most difficult experiences a person can go through but, paradoxically, it is also one of the greatest. For in this terrible new understanding is the potential bloom of certain knowledge that we need a Savior. Salvation often follows soon after an individual’s eyes are opened in this way.

But our initial salvation experience often does not completely erase our tendency to try to earn our way to the God we have entered into relationship with. We still have a sinful old nature to crucify, and part of this nature is made manifest in the voice that tries to burden us with an ongoing sense that we have to measure up to God if we hope to stay in His love. All too many Christians are still listening to this deception, often without conscious awareness that they are even doing so. The result is burnt-out, spiritual workaholics who fear they can easily lose their salvation. Obviously this is a prescription for despair.

As long as we are working in any way for God’s acceptance we will not be able to rest in the fact that we already have it through Jesus Christ. It was ours from the time we sincerely asked Him to forgive our sins and become our Redeemer. Only a progressive abandoning of the notion that we must earn our own way will usher us into the peace and joy we long to possess in our relationship with our Lord.

But often we must first bring our spiritual compulsivity into our conscious awareness. Many times our innate sinfulness in this area has been compounded by having parents and/or other people in our lives who withheld love from us if we displeased them. Because of this we may have emotional wounds that we do not deserve blame for. These wounds are often sublimated, with the result that they become deeply rooted in our subconscious. What we need here is healing, not an effort to crucify this part of who we are. When this happens our entire view of reality can be affected without our knowing it. This may be why some believers have a much harder time surrendering their lives to the grace of God than others.

God Himself is the answer. Sometimes the Spirit directly enables us to see what is driving our impulse to try to earn the Father’s love. Other times He uses counselors, pastors or close friends to help bring these subconscious tendencies to light in us. As this takes place (often progressively, rather than instantly) we can use this new awareness to enable us to surrender this part of who we are to the cleansing, healing and transforming power of God. Then our increasing understanding of His character, as opposed to our own, begins to free us from the impossible burden of “self-redemption.” We then find ourselves on the way to a new destination, a blessed place where we deeply drink from the ocean of acceptance and belonging that we were made for and desperately need, an ocean that can only be found in the One who loves us beyond our wildest dreams.