Hi, this is Erin Michele, and welcome to steps to trusting at steps to trusting it is my goal to meet you where you are in your faith journey and encourage you to continue to take steps to trusting the Lord more fully.

[00:00:16]  Hey, everyone. I’m excited to be having this conversation about the topic of performance. It is however, a hard conversation for me to have because it is a topic that I have struggled with for quite some time. And it is something that I am currently struggling through.

[00:00:37] And so I wanted to share with you what I’m learning , and pray that it meets you where you are and what you’re learning.

[00:00:44] I don’t pretend to have all the answers. I’m kind of letting you guys into my search right now f or those answers.

[00:00:52]As we discussed this topic of performance, I’m approaching it from a point of, really seeking out, what does it look like to truly trust God to sanctify us? To truly have faith that we are forgiven, that his grace is enough. And how does that play out then in our actions? I know we talk a lot about taking steps of faith. I think this topic of performance is so important because sometimes the step of faith, on the outside, might look very much the same.

[00:01:29] The step of faith might be choosing to do the right thing- to take a step of obedience. But really what I’m finding in this performance. Is that our heart position is the difference. And so I hope that you guys will join me as we look at some scriptures and see how do we step out of the desire to perform, to earn something and  into a position where our relationship with the Lord changes our actions and becomes an overflow of who we are.

[00:02:09]I think about how I personally have struggled to try and prove myself by my actions, by my words. I find that I keep coming back to this place of performance. A couple of years ago, I was in a Bible study where it just laid out so clearly,  how we often try to earn God’s love. How we often try to do all the things to be seen righteous. And I knew that that was what I do. I knew that in my heart, That I have over the years, hidden the things about me that I don’t like  and tried to portray myself in a righteous light.

[00:02:49]And so several years ago, that’s something that I started to see and to focus on. This is something that I have actually shared on my blog before. So I can put a link as to where you can find that in the show notes.

[00:03:03]But it isn’t something that I learned about that I realized, and it goes away. There’s still a tendency in me to be the rule follower .The legalism of that , it caused me to stop asking questions because I wanted to be seen as righteous. I wanted to be seen as doing the right things. I wanted to be seen as the good Christian girl, that I currently thought people saw me as, and so that’s all the way back to  my high school, experience. But I still find myself struggling through the topic of performance  as I have this high standard of things for myself and for the people around me.  I struggle with wanting to expect the right action from people. Even just the way that the things that I expect for my kids when I tell them what I want them to do. I want them to listen. I want them to obey. I want them to understand. And I sometimes believe that that’s what God desires of us. Because I know God desires us to seek him and to follow him.

[00:04:13] However,  I don’t think it’s just that God. Desires us to be crafted and, beautiful on the outside, but not beautiful on the inside. And this makes me think of when Jesus talks to the Pharisees and he calls them whitewashed tombs. They’ve made themselves so nice on the outside, but it’s more than what’s happening on the outside. It’s something  that should be happening on inside. but  It’s not.

[00:04:42]When I was a kid,  I would look at the Pharisees in the Bible and wonder how they could miss the point so easily. And now as an adult, I find myself relating  more with the Pharisees than I would like.

[00:04:58]I find myself looking at the actions, more then looking at the heart. And this is something that God has been showing me recently through his scripture, that it is not about the actions. It is about the heart. 

[00:05:15] I wanted to read to you guys from Galatians to kind of, let you in on the challenge that I am facing currently talking about performance. I’m reading from Galatians three, and this is Paul talking to the Galation church, but his words are speaking directly to my heart.

[00:05:36] ” You foolish Galatians who has bewitched you before your very eyes. Jesus  was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you. Did you receive the spirit by observing the law? Or by believing what you heard ?  Are you so foolish after beginning with the spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?”

[00:06:00]This  cut deeply as I read it. Often, I find that I’m trying to seek relationship with God by my right actions, by doing the right thing. And I find that I do that even to my own children, that I put on them, the expectation of the law that I put on them, the expectation of obedience. But that’s not what God’s word says.

[00:06:26]I want to look at Ephesians two, starting in verse eight “for it is by grace. You have been saved through faith. This is not from yourselves. This is a gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast.”

[00:06:40]This verse very clearly says that we don’t earn our way to God. But when we talk about striving or performance,  within Christianity, it’s often talking about this concept where we are trying to earn our way to God, or we are trying to, gain a status or position . And as you can see here in this verse, this is contrary to what God tells us in his word.  We are saved, not from ourselves, but as a gift of God. How do we stop trying to strive and perform and accept it as a gift, but tie that together with the idea ithat we are responsible, to walk out what we’ve been called to the very next verse is Ephesians two 10. which is the theme verse that I use for steps to trusting. And it tells us that he prepared the steps for us, but we are to walk in them.

[00:07:39] I have often felt like I need to prove, I am who I say I am. When I look at the things that I feel I should do, I often feel compelled by productivity and getting things done and, being good enough or kind enough, or making sure that I’m doing the right thing for somebody else.

[00:08:02] For those of you who are like me in that you struggle with performance. I highly recommend that you read Galatians three through five. It’s really challenging and really helpful. We’re just going to be kind of skipping through. So  I wanted to look at Galatians three verse 10, “all who rely on observing the law are under a curse for it is written. Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the book of the law. Clearly, no one is justified before God by the law because the righteous will live by faith.”

[00:08:38]It goes on to, talk about  how the law can not make us righteous. Often, I think for me, when I think of performance, I want to look at one part of the law. I want to look at the successful parts in my life. I want to think of  the places that I feel as if I’m able to be obedient.  Often I’m seeking position or acceptance. I think we do this a lot in our culture. We strive to change how we want other people to see or perceive us, or even how we want to compare ourselves to others. We strive to be at a certain level in that comparison.

[00:09:20] And I want to say, look at me, look at what I’ve done.

[00:09:22] Look at how I’ve acted, and consider that as a righteousness in myself. But when it says here in verse 10, “cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the book of the law.” We have to look at the whole law. We have to look at whether or not, we are able to uphold it and we are not. We are not able to continue to do everything written in the book of the law. And so we can’t just look at the successful places where we have been obedient. We must look at the places we became angry and overreacted. We need to look at the places where we were negligent act in a way that we should have, we need to look at the whole of our lives.

[00:10:07]I think part of the battle with striving has to do with confusion about the law. So when we’re looking at this in the Bible and we talk about the law, in the old Testament, there are so many things listed do’s and don’ts. I want to just narrow it down and look at how we could strive to prove ourselves by the law.

[00:10:30]And I want to just look actually just at two of the 10 commandments. I want us to look at the last two.  And what those last two commandments are,” you shall not give false testimony” and “you shall not covet.” These things seem pretty simple and clear cut. And yet if we look at our lives, have we given false testimony?

[00:10:53] Okay. You could say it very simply lied. Right? Have we lied? And often it’s to protect ourselves or a reputation.  Sometimes we lie to protect other people’s feelings. We don’t want to tell them hard truths or  because we’ve done something wrong, we want to hide it from them. How about you shall not covet?

[00:11:14] I think as I just mentioned a little while ago, talking about getting caught up in the comparison. How we compare ourselves to others. It’s potentially wanting to be more like them or wanting what they have or wishing that we could have what they have. On the last show, Shannon talked a little bit about this and saying how we need to believe the truth that God says about us.

[00:11:41] We need to love who he’s made us to be. Right. If we love who God has made us to be, we’re honoring him. But if we say we would rather be like that other person, or we’d rather have their story than we aren’t honoring who God has made us to be.

[00:11:58] So if we live under the law and again, just looking at these two commandments. And we look at our lives, we can see that we’ve broken these commandments. We’ve given false testimony. We have wanted things other than what we have or wanted things that other people have, in a way that pursues something other than God.

[00:12:20]Let’s continue with this thought, but go back to Galatians,

[00:12:25] we’re going to skip over a little part that we will come back to in just a bit.

[00:12:30]Galatians five verse four. “You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ. You have fallen away from grace, but by faith, we eagerly await through the spirit, the righteousness, for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”

[00:12:57]So I struggle with understanding these both and situations, and let me explain to you what I mean. In this passage, in these verses I see, as if we are not under the law. There is not an expectation for us to keep the law, but we’ve are called to be a certain way. We are called to live by faith. And so we should be different.

[00:13:23]So, how are we to do this? If our goal is not to set out to do all the things required of us to earn righteousness, what is the goal?

[00:13:33]I want to keep reading in Galatians five 13. “You, my brothers were called to be free, but do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature. Rather serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command. Love your neighbor as yourself.”

[00:13:50]Summing up the law in this way shows us that it is not about doing all the right things, but instead it’s a matter of the heart. What Christ has done for us is gives us the grace to have relationship with him. But we’re still acting like we have to earn that relationship. A relationship that is given. A freedom that we hold. A freedom from having to do all the right things. And what does he say here? “He says you were called to be free, do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature rather. Serve one another in love.”

[00:14:31]It’s a matter of the heart. It’s a matter of trusting God and an outpouring of thankfulness and gratefulness because we don’t have to earn it.

[00:14:41] And so the question I’m asking myself is, and I want to ask you too. How do we not strive?

[00:14:50] As I was searching that out and really seeking God, how do I not strive? I came across a verse in Colossians. Colossians 1:29, says ” to this end, I labor struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.”

[00:15:08]The King James version actually uses the word striving. “Striving with all his energy.”  That’s so struck  me it doesn’t say stop striving. It says that he’s striving with God’s energy. And I want to look back and say, okay, what is he striving to do? So let’s, let’s look back  and see what he’s talking about striving to do with God’s energy. We’re going to start reading in 27. OK so Colossians 1:27. “To them, God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are  the richest of the glory of  this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim warning everyone, teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ or this, I toil struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works, in me.”

[00:16:08]Really there’s so much in this passage, but what I want to look at is what is he striving for and how is he striving? Because I find that I am often striving for  something different from what Paul is explaining here in this passage. Paul is striving for what I consider something that is God’s kingdom , God’s glory or God’s will.

[00:16:33] When we look at the Lord’s prayer, ” our father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. “

[00:16:44] Jesus taught us to pray for his kingdom to come and for his will to come. And here, Paul is striving for God’s kingdom to come and people’s hearts and for his will to be done in their lives.

[00:17:00]Paul is struggling and striving and performing, doing all this teaching and warning so that people will be able to be presented mature in Christ. He wants the kingdom of God to grow in their hearts. He wants people to come to know who Christ is.  And for this, he toils and strives, but he doesn’t do it by himself. He does it with God working in his life.

[00:17:30]But often when we talk about performance and striving, we talk about a goal we have, that we are trying to earn.

[00:17:38] I strive a lot.  I find myself that I’m not striving in this way. Many of the times that I am striving. It is not with my eyes set on God’s kingdom. Often it’s with my eyes set on myself.

[00:17:55]it’s not always for God to be glorified.

[00:17:58] Sometimes we’re just seeking position or acceptance.

[00:18:03]Have you ever been there? Have you ever felt like that’s you like you’re seeking and striving to earn something, to earn God’s acceptance? And when you look at your heart in that situation, what does it look like?

[00:18:17] It’s not, God-centered, it’s not God focused. It’s not striving for his kingdom. It’s striving for ourselves. The very same action could be striving in God’s strength or striving for ourselves. Like doing the hard thing of apologizing to my children could be, so that I’ll look good in their eyes. And that’s a striving, but in God’s strength it could be to ask him to forgiven me change me and grow me.

[00:18:48]Striving in our own strength is self-focused, it’s trying to be enough or do enough, but in God’s strength, he is working love in my heart.

[00:18:59]I have another verse, Romans three, verse 20, “Therefore, no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law. Rather through the law, we become conscious of sin.”

[00:19:11] So often, I have looked at the law. I have seen the right thing that I have wanted to do,  and I chose to strive in my own strength to try and make myself righteous by the law.  But God’s word tells us that we cannot succeed in making ourselves righteous by the law.

[00:19:35] If we compare ourselves to the law, we can only succeed and seeing where we fall short.

[00:19:41]So how do we not do this? How do we not strive in our own strength?

[00:19:46] Let’s see how this connects into what we’re looking at in Galatians 5:4, where it says  “you are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ. You have fallen away from grace. By faith we eagerly await through the spirit, the righteousness for which we hope for in Christ Jesus,  neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value.”

[00:20:14]I just wanted to include verse because to many, it is so very confusing and it is confusing. But  I want to break it out for a second. There was this debate over do new believers that are not of Jewish descent need to follow the law? Do they need to fulfill the letter of the law to be considered ones who follow after Christ? And in the old Testament, one of the signs of the covenant was circumcision. So it mattered. It mattered very much. And here in Galatians five, He says “for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value.” This is huge. It may not make sense to us, but it’s saying you don’t have to go back and fulfill the letter of the law. If you think that fulfilling the law and doing the things and checking the boxes is how you are justified or proven to be right. Then you will fail every single time. That we have fallen away from grace if that’s where we find ourselves. Let’s continue to look at the end of that, that next first. So the end of Galatians 5:6, the end of that verse, “the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”

[00:21:44] that’s saying this is about your heart. This is not about doing the things. ” The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”

[00:21:56] So many things in God’s word,  it’s about the heart. It’s not about the actions. It’s not the striving, it’s not the doing, it’s not the earning.  but it’s about what’s in the heart.

[00:22:08]As I said, this is a struggle I’m currently going through.  This is a lesson that I’m currently trying to apply to my life.

[00:22:17]The question I have for myself, And I want to ask you, is,  are we using our strength, our striving, our performance, to try to earn what Jesus has already offered to us.

[00:22:32]For those of you who are Christians. We need to consider. What Christ has offered to us what Jesus offers us. And for who are not Christians, you may need to consider this for the first time to consider what is offered by the death of Jesus Christ. And so for both  I want you to listen to this verse from 2 Corinthians 5, starting in verse 18. “All this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ. Not counting men’s sin against them. And he has committed us to the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are Christ’s ambassador as though God were making his appeal through us, we implore you on behalf of Christ. Be reconciled to God.  God made him who had no sin to be sin for us. So that in him, we might become the righteousness of God.”

[00:23:48] There’s so much in those verses. I’m going to first look at that last part that God made Christ Jesus, who did not have any sin,  to be sin for us. On the cross when Jesus died, he took on the sin of the world so that in him, we might become the righteousness of God. He took our sin and offered us his righteousness. , but are we still striving to make ourselves righteous? So again, I ask you. To consider that. And is that something that if even if you have already made a decision to follow after Christ to accept his righteousness, are you living as if you had, and if you hadn’t, do you like to step into that?

[00:24:40] There’s so much more in this passage we aren’t called to reconcile ourselves to God. We aren’t called to perform, to do enough, to be enough, to be righteous, to all the right things. So then we can be close to God. We are instead called to come under his forgiveness to come into that reconciliation where our sins are not counted against us. Because we think that our righteousness might out weigh the bad. But the reality of it is as we looked at Galatians three 10. Our sin disqualifies us from making ourselves righteous, but we are given this gift.

[00:25:25]Again, Are you striving for something you already have Or something that is offered to you as a gift with no need to earn it?

[00:25:35]Friends in Christ,  you are forgiven excepted. And righteous. Have you stepped into this relationship? Have you applied this truth to your life? Are you living in your own strength instead of living in God’s strength that was given to you.

[00:25:55] I’m going to pray for us as we close.

[00:25:58] Dear God, this is a message that I needed to seek out for myself. This is a truth in your word that I need to apply to my own heart.  And I need to  stop trying to do it all in my strength and for my glory but to set my eyes on you and love you because you loved me.

[00:26:20]I pray father that you would be with our listeners, that you would give them the strength to follow you in your strength. Lord, I pray that you would help them to see the next step. Even if that step is just a change in their heart, something unseen, Lord God, you see it, you see them.

[00:26:40] And I pray father that you would change our hearts, that we would come to you, not with a striving, but with a thankfulness  for what you have already done for us. Help us to receive what you have already done for us. It’s in jesus’ name. I pray. Amen.

[00:26:58]Friends. Thank you so much for joining me  this was a hard podcast, to prepare for, but it was necessary for me to look at these things and to see what God is calling me to in my life. I pray that that blesses you and encourages you to look at the places in your life that you might be striving in your own strength instead of striving in God’s strength.

[00:27:24] If you were encouraged, please consider sharing this with a friend.

[00:27:29] Leaving a rating or a comment on the podcast also helps other people find the show. So that is also very much appreciated.

[00:27:37]There are many people. But need to hear that message of reconciliation and need to be reminded. God has already given us something. He’s given us a freedom that we don’t live, having to up hold the law to have relationship with him, but we instead live because he fulfilled the law. Because he was righteous and he gave his life for us.

[00:28:02] Join us next time, where we will be continuing in this conversation. We will be continuing to talk about the law versus the spirit.

[00:28:11]If we’re not living by our own power, what power are we living in?  that’s where we’re going to spend our time on the next show. I hope you’ll join us till then. I want to leave you  with this reminder from Ephesians two 10 for we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which  God  prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

[00:28:34] I am praying for you as you keep on stepping.