Having been immersed into His death … and risen with Christ (Rom. 6:3-4), we like Paul can say;

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 KJV).

This Scripture tells us of the one who alone can live a life pleasing in God’s sight – it is Jesus Christ who now lives in every genuine believer!

Do we do ‘good deeds’? Yes, everyone does some “good” deeds. But, doing “good” is not necessarily ‘good.’ Most people often do “good” just to receive praise/reward, make up for their wrongs, feel good about themselves, et cetera. These so called ‘good deeds’ are only self-serving. Moreover, despite our “good” deeds, we have plenty more that are bad ones! Just consider your expressions of pride, and lying, evil thoughts, being a false witness, and being contentious, gossiping – these are some of the things the LORD hates (Proverbs 6:16-19).

Mankind cannot even keep 10 simple rules from God. However, religion continues to urge us to keep its laws, seven sacraments, utter various prayers by wrote, give assorted offerings and “tithes,” attend numerous feasts and festivals, participate in rites and rituals, and perform various other tasks to “hopefully” please God and… avoid hellfire. None of these things save us or change us. The problem is deeper than these superficial works can deal with.

Whether we attempt to keep a church’s laws, our laws, or God’s laws… our sinful flesh nature is far too weak to ever measure up. Just look at what God’s religion did to Israel who repeatedly fell away from God unto idols — how much worse is what man-made religion does to us!

The Apostle Paul, in his prior life, was a Pharisee, a religious leader of Israel. He was a nitpicker concerning Law-keeping, and yet, after his soul salvation, he admitted that all of his religious practice and works were “but dung” when compared to Jesus Christ’s righteousness that was in him as a believer (Philippians 3:3-11).

Even for the Christian, to live a perfect life of his own accord is impossible. You can read of Paul’s miserable religious attempts in Romans 7.

Paul had to forsake his vain religion and learn the truth of Galatians 2:20:

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 KJV).

The Christian life is NOT the performance of the Christian, but rather that of the Lord Jesus Christ living and working in the Christian, as the Christian walks in an intelligent understanding of God’s Word to him or her!

If you been frustrated trying to be a Christian in accord with religion’s dictates, the answer is to drop all that and trust Christ to ‘save’ you… for He will save you and come to live in you as the new you! For He living in you and through you… is the only real Christian.

So, if we trust the Saviour who can and does ‘save’ — the Lord Jesus Christ… and trust a Book that will teach us the truth of Him — the King James Bible, we can redeem the years of life we have on earth for our great God and our Saviour, “who loved [us], and gave himself for [us]!”