The Journey Continues: DIY Christianity

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works," - Ephesians 2:8-9a NIV

"And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace." - Romans 11:6 NIV

We are a "do-it-yourself" (DIY) culture, whether we change the oil in our cars ourselves, or replace the garbage disposal. Grocery stores and retailers have self-checkout. And it seems every corner gas station has a self-car wash. We thrive on DIY projects, because we get that dopamine hit of feeling satisfied that we took care of something on our own. But being a DIY-er does not always yield the best results, which I'm sure many of you who've tried DIY projects can attest to. 

My wife used to have an active ministry on the online forum, Reddit, where she spent time in a couple of Christian sub-Reddits, responding to individuals who had questions on their faith. She would often share with me some of the original posts, and I found an alarming number of original posters had this DIY mentality about their faith: many of them knew that salvation was a gift that God gave them through Jesus Christ, but they were still sinning, and the guilt from that continual sin made them feel that Jesus would not accept them - that they needed to "clean up" their act before being finally accepted by Christ. 

In doing some research, DIY Christianity has two main manifestations: first, it's where an individual prefers to distance themselves from traditional church structures, and build an individual, customized version of their faith; the second (and the one I am referencing) is manifested in a person trying to "fix" themselves through personal willpower, rather than trusting God's Gift of Grace.  

The root cause for this stems from our human nature, which naturally rejects the concept of unconditional grace. Even if we are steeped in Sunday School and worship, we can still be conditioned to see ourselves based on our own merit: good behavior results in a reward; hard work results in getting paid well and even promoted. Also, we need to humble ourselves and recognize that we NEED God's Gift of Grace - that we are spiritually bankrupt. Our own pride prevents us from truly accepting Grace because of our need to feel that we contributed to our own success.

But as I would read these misguided posts on Reddit, I felt that the primary cause was lack of good Christian education, be it in Sunday school, or from the pulpit, or small groups, which  has led to this lack of understanding of God's Gift of Grace. Perhaps the fear that by preaching we are sinners in need of Grace, it could alienate those that might not understand the concept. Instead, what is preached is not the Gospel, but a watered-down message that emphasizes that God wants us to be good, be happy with ourselves, and we can reach out to Him in a crisis. It teaches that Christianity is a self-help program, with a checklist, and when a believer fails the checklist (which they invariably will), they spiral into guilt, and assume that they have not done enough to be saved. 

But THANKS BE TO GOD that His Gift of Grace, through Jesus Christ, IS enough to give us our salvation. It is not earned. It is not a DIY project that we work on, only to have it collapse under some impossible weight. It is a salvation built upon Christ, His atoning sacrifice, which is an unshakable foundation. 

Soli Deo Gloria