Sometimes I think that language fails us. At least at times I hope that’s the case, because I would hate to think that we are so ignorant or deceived that we actually believe some of what we say. The example I’m hearing lately is “You just need to give your life to Jesus.” I am not at all sure whether that is just trying to make a big concept fit in a small sentence or if we just don’t get it.
Sometimes it goes like this: “You need to give it all to Jesus, as much as you know how to today.” So what’s the problem with that? There are two problems, ‘you’ and ‘you’. This is an appeal to ‘you’ to do something for Jesus, to do God a favor and give yourself up to him. Just take all of your sinful selfishness and give it up to Jesus. Simple, right? Maybe not.
If one does a little reasoning it is not hard to see where this statement is dead wrong. The first and most obvious problem with it is that we can’t do it. If we could simply give our lives up to God, there was no need for the bloody, beaten mess of the crucifixion. There was no need that God should send His son at all. We could all simply entrust our lives to God and our problems would be solved. The fact that God sent a savior is strong evidence that we don’t have the option of giving ourselves to God (let alone approaching His holiness) under our own steam.
Secondly, it places us in ownership of our relationship to Christ. If I gave it all to Jesus, I can take it back. If I gave as much as I know how, I have the option of adding or removing this and that to the set of things I give Jesus at will. If my salvation is dependent on my giving it all to Jesus, then my relationship to Jesus (and God) ends at the point I stop giving it all. It is salvation on my terms, not His.
Some will say “We are not talking about salvation, but a response to salvation. If we are truly saved we will give it all to him.” This is a lovely sentiment, but is beside the point because salvation is the free gift of God and is not dependent on our doing anything in return. Salvation demands only one thing: believe that the father sent his son to die for your sins and set you free from the world’s system of give and take. The gospel does not ask us to give because we have nothing of value that we can give. The gospel is an invitation to take, freely. Which is why we so often balk at the blatant freedom of the gospel; we are too proud to accept charity. We want salvation the old-fashioned way – we want to earn it.
Perhaps we think that “giving it all up to Jesus” is a sign that we are saved. If we are truly saved, we will change. Indeed we will change, but only because the love of God – the ridiculous generosity of His nature – changes us. If we are able to give up anything to Jesus, it is not because we will to do it, but because his embarrassingly free love destroys our desire for the things of this world. This is not Jesus taking from us, but Jesus setting us free from our idolatry by loving us past it. Love is blind, and Christ’s inexplicable love and faithfulness toward us (not ours toward him) blinds us to our idols.
Essentially, to say “You need to give it all up to Jesus” as if it were gospel is to turn gospel into law. The gospel is ‘good news’. It does not demand that you give it all up, but tells you that God loves you intensely despite that fact that you can’t give it all up. There is no shame in admitting that because that is precisely why God sent His son – to give it all up for you. That is the gospel truth.
God Bless
