Isaiah 55:9 (CSB)
For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Growing up in church, I unconsciously developed a "God Day Formula." I believed that if I lived a good life and kept my nose clean, God would reward me with all good days and no bad days. By believing this way, I actually felt that I could coax God into granting me a trouble-free life.
No one taught me this formula; I just developed it according to how I thought I should relate to the heart and character of God. It was kind of like I signed a contract with God in my mind: “I'll attend church on Sunday, try to be a good person who's honest and treats others with respect, and then in return, God will make sure that my life has all good days and no bad days.”
When the Formula Shatters
But then life happened. When I was 11, my dad was diagnosed with MS. At 14, my 18-year-old brother was injured in an oilfield accident and had to spend the night in the hospital. It shook him up enough to make him consider getting back into church. He hadn’t been in a while and told me he wanted to go to Sunday School with me (this was on a Wednesday), so we agreed to go together to Sunday School that coming Sunday. He didn't make it to Sunday; that Friday night he was killed in a car accident.
James 4:14 (CSB)
Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes.
It was as if the world had stopped, and I found myself asking, “God, did I not keep my end of the bargain? Are you punishing me?” When I hit the heavy weight of tragedy and loss, I felt like my faith was built on a house of cards, ready to tumble down at any time. But it wasn't my faith that was tumbling down; it was my “Good Day Formula” that was getting crushed.
Unraveling the Misconceptions
A decade later, as a 21-year-old, I joined a small country church and began to read and study my Bible for the first time in my life. As I began to learn the Scriptures, my misconceptions of the "Good Day Formula" began to slowly unravel. In the process of learning the Bible, I discovered something incredible: a God who doesn't operate by man-made formulas. I also realized that my “Good Day Formula, was in reality “works-based righteousness.” This is the belief that our good works earn our right standing with God and, in essence, a trouble-free life here and now in this world.
Ephesians 2:8 (CSB) firmly declares, “For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift.” Grace is not something we earn; it's a gift. Romans 3:23 drives the point home that we are in desperate need of God's grace, reminding us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The point is that none of us are good enough to earn our salvation. If we were, the cross of Jesus would have been unnecessary.
Embracing Kingdom Living
So what happened when my formula got crushed? I stopped trying to earn God's favor and began to understand that my right standing with God is not based on my performance but on my position in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6). That the Kingdom of God is not just something that's far away, where Christians go when they die, but a present reality that lives in the hearts of those who have made Jesus their King here and now.
And here is what I want to share with you today: God is not just interested in giving you a “good day;” He's committed to giving you a transformed life that is rooted in your position in Christ Jesus. And when you seek His Kingdom with all your heart, with its values and truths, you will experience a kind of goodness that no formula can ever capture—a goodness that is transforming your heart even through the worst circumstances you face in this world. And that, my friend, is at the very foundation of Kingdom living.