The following is not a brag. I hope you can glean a little wisdom from my story.
Growing up, I was a good boy. Even my dear parents would agree.
I was a model student, had good friends, was even school captain.
My secret? I’d been trained to not do the wrong thing.
I rarely got in trouble. I generally tried to avoid bad consequences. I had decided, to the best of my ability, to avoid regret and learn from other people’s mistakes.
I am truly grateful for my upbringing, the wisdom of my parents, and the grace of God on my life.
But being a “good boy” didn’t make me actually good.
After leaving school, moving out of home, and establishing my own life in Sydney and then Canberra, I generally continued that same path. Not doing the wrong thing.
I set boundaries for myself. Limits. Rules. I would break them, sometimes, and live with the guilt of that.
I would not break them… and still live with the guilt of that…
Wait, what do I mean by that?
Right Up Against the Line
I had spent my life living by the rules, but had become focussed on sidling right up to that boundary without crossing it. I would have a limit, and do everything but breach it.
I was confused. I hadn’t broken the rule, but I still felt guilty.
I look back on that time and realise… I didn’t understand the gospel.
I didn’t understand that I had been set free. Not simply to “not do the wrong thing”, but to truly live for righteousness. To do God’s will on earth as in heaven.
He Went After Hearts
Jesus fulfilled the Torah and the Prophets. When He said, “I have not come to destroy them but to fulfil them” (Matthew 5:17), He wasn’t merely saying that He kept the law perfectly, though He did. He was saying that everything they pointed toward found its completion in Him.
But Jesus did more than keep the law. He revealed its true intent. The Pharisees were good at drawing lines. Jesus went after hearts.
“You have heard that it was said to people long ago, ‘Do not murder,’… But I say to you that everyone who is enraged with his brother or sister will be subject to judgment.” — Matthew 5:21–22 (REV)
“You have heard that it was said, Do not commit adultery, but I say to you, that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” — Matthew 5:27–28 (REV)
“I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit inside you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh.” — Ezekiel 36:26 (REV)
The standard was never simply avoiding the wrong action. The standard was always a transformed heart. Jesus didn’t spend His life looking for the hard edge of sin without falling off. He pursued the will of the Father with His whole being.
“My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” — John 4:34 (REV)
Food isn’t an occasional activity. It’s sustenance! Obedience to the Father wasn’t a burden Jesus reluctantly carried. It was His delight: his daily bread.
Not the Absence of Evil
And that’s where I had missed the point. I had by default thought that it was primarily about what I didn’t do. Don’t cross that line. Don’t commit that sin. Don’t get yourself into trouble.
But the gospel calls us to something far greater! The Christian life is not simply the absence of evil. It’s the presence of Christ.
It’s not merely avoiding sin, but loving God. Not merely resisting temptation, but pursuing righteousness. Not merely saying “no” to the flesh, but saying “yes” to the Spirit.
“For living in freedom, Christ has set us free!” — Galatians 5:1 (REV)
That freedom is not licence to live however we please. Nor is it freedom to spend our lives standing as close as possible to sin without technically stepping over the line. It is freedom to joyfully walk in the way of Christ.
So let’s not focus solely on the negative. The goal isn’t to become people who are excellent at avoiding bad things. The goal is to become people who increasingly look like Jesus, who love sacrificially, who forgive freely, who serve faithfully, whose hearts delight in God and doing His will.
This is the true work of God’s grace in us. The gospel is not simply behaviour modification. It is heart transformation.
“…because it is God who is working in you both to want to do, and to do, his good pleasure.” — Philippians 2:13 (REV)
Two Questions
The question isn’t “How close can I get to the line without crossing it?”
It’s “How can I pursue Christ more fully?”
One question is focussed on the boundary. The other is focussed on the destination.
Christ did not save us simply from something. He saved us for something.
And when we stumble, as we all do, we don’t return to a system of guilt and self-justification. We return to the cross. The same grace that saved us is the grace that sustains us.
So let’s not settle for merely avoiding the wrong thing. By God’s grace, let’s pursue the right thing.
Let’s pursue Christ.
“‘Our Father, who is in heaven, may your name be treated as holy.
May your kingdom come.
May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the Wicked One.’” — Matthew 6:9–13 (REV)