I suspect you’ve heard the oft-repeated and solemn warning: “We better not think that we must add our works to what Jesus did on the cross.” Doing so is portrayed as the most tragic error anyone could make, a sure indication that one is not a true Christian. In reality, however, that warning is a sloppy and confusing caution that can either be true or heretical, depending on what it is actually meant to convey.

If what is meant is, “We better not think that our works atone for our sins, as that would demean the sufficiency of Jesus’ atoning sacrifice on the cross,” it is true.

A man was walking down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead.

And by chance, a Christian was driving down that road while listening to worship music. When he noticed the unconscious and bloody man lying on the roadside, he bound the evil spirits in Jesus’ name that were responsible for the brutal assault, and then he “decreed and declared” that the man would live and not die. Finally, he prayed that God would send someone to help the unfortunate man. It felt so good to be a Christian who understands spiritual authority and is full of compassion.

As I am sitting here on a March morning looking out the picture window of my office, I’m watching the snow slowly fall and settle on the branches of budding trees. Winter is saying farewell reluctantly.

Most everyone knows that snow forms from freezing water vapor in the atmosphere, but who can explain why water freezes at a certain temperature? Or why it first contracts, then expands during the freezing process, which is the reason ice floats on the top of lakes rather than sinks to the bottom (which would eventually end all life on earth via a terminal ice age)?

A man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.” So he divided his wealth between them. And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living. Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him.

Although what we most often refer to as “the Lord’s Prayer” is certainly appropriate to pray any time, it seems Jesus intended that it be prayed in the morning. The evidence for that is the line, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matt. 5:11). That would seem more appropriate to pray at the beginning of the day rather than at the end. That line also leads us to think that “the Lord’s Prayer” was meant to be a daily prayer.

The reason I’m also claiming it is a perfect prayer is because it was given to us by a perfect Person, and it contains seven requests. You probably know that, in the Bible, seven is the number of perfection.

It is impossible to go through life ignoring God’s creatures. Who can say they haven’t noticed birds, spiders, squirrels, ants, and an occasional raccoon? Those creatures are part of our divinely-planned existence, and they, like all the rest of creation, serve to arrest our attention, provoke us to ponder, and draw us into a relationship with God. They not only reveal God’s incredible power and amazing creativity, but they serve to teach us about ourselves (“Like sheep, we’ve all gone astray.”) And they even affirm moral truths that reside in every conscience. It is amazing—and tragic—that most people are not amazed by the divine display that is paraded before them all their lives.

Let’s think about this a little more…

When you think about, it is astounding that every person on the planet isn’t thinking about God constantly, and that He is not the primary subject of every conversation and communication.

People, for example, think, and they take thinking totally for granted, although no one understands how it actually occurs. Neurologists might suggest it is a combination of chemicals and electrical signals, but that is as far as they can take us. The rest is complete mystery. Add the storage of memories, language and knowledge—millions of pieces of data that have accumulated via five amazing senses, such as images that have entered the lenses of our eyes to be transmitted via electrical signals to our brains, and sounds that have traveled through the air into our ear canals that also transmit electrical signals to our brains. These, and a million other examples, only multiply all the mystery.

Although Jesus declared from His cross, “It is finished!” (John 19:30), He was not referring to His work of salvation. The reason we can be certain of that is because Paul wrote, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins” (1 Cor. 15:17, emphasis added). Clearly, Jesus’ resurrection had something to do with releasing us, in some way, from our sins. So, whatever He accomplished on the cross that had something to do with our sins, it was not everything.

So what was “it” that was finished with Jesus’ final breath? Scripture doesn’t say. It would seem reasonable to think that Jesus was referring to His suffering since one second after His final declaration, He died, and His spirit evacuated His body.

Frequently I hear or read the claim that, because Paul said in Ephesians 2:8 that we are “saved by grace,” inheriting God’s kingdom does not hinge on our obedience to Jesus’ commandments. Tragically, that is an error based on another error.

Paul actually told the Ephesians, “By grace you have been saved through faith.” Don’t remove the factor of faith from the equation of salvation. Both grace and faith are required for us to be saved.

Once upon a time, there was a great king who ruled his kingdom in truth and righteousness. But there were enemies living within his kingdom who broke his laws, and whom he discovered were plotting to overthrow his rule.

The king laughed when he heard of their plot, knowing that his enemies were no match for his armies, and because his informants knew of his enemies’ every move and intent. So, he decreed that in ten days, all of his enemies would be rounded up and executed for treason.