So the other day at Bible Study, I heard a lecture on the “rich young ruler” from Mark 10…

17And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” 20And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 21And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

Several things I had heard before were discussed, and then the friend of mine who was lecturing asked two questions: Why was this guy so concerned with where the line is? Why do we always want to know where the line is?

Those questions stuck with me because when I’m honest with myself, I know that part of me lives for the line. You know, the self-serving fallen part that’s in me. The part that asks, “What’s the least I can do and still be ‘in’?” The part that wants black and white answers to each and every question. The part that wants to be noticed (and honored) when I put my left toe over the line, when the slightest part of me does something that is, for once, not self-seeking. The legalistic part that wants to compare my faith against the faith of others. The part that feels as if I must do something, anything, to earn His grace and I desperately need to know if I’m doing enough.

And there it is. The underlying assumption that there exists a point at which I - at which anyone - can do “enough.” Christ’s work at the cross is enough. Period. It’s already been done. Anything I can come up with to offer Him is only mine to give because He first gave it to me. Ultimately, what He desires of me is to faith in Him alone, throw myself entirely over the line (after all, it exists only in my mind), and fall into the waiting arms of Jesus. Paul says it better than I ever could:

4Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. 5Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
~2 Cor. 3:5-6