We are never far from reminding God of our credentials, of providing him with a curriculum vitae that lays out all we are, all we have been through, and all we have accomplished for his sake. We are never far from making the subtle turn from grace to merit, from what is freely given to what has been hard-earned.
The Apostle Paul knew this temptation. In his letter to the church at Philippi, he goes to some trouble to lay out his credentials as the most admirable of all Jewish men—a man who had impeccable ethnic, family, religious, and personal credentials. Yet after he lays them out, he drops a bomb: He says that he counts them all as rubbish. Why? Because in his former life these credentials had been the ground of his confidence before the Lord. And even now he knew he could once again begin to believe that God loved him because of who he was and that God owed him because of what he had done. And he knew that if this was constantly on his mind, it might entrap or distract him. So he “forgot” it to
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