Do vs Done: Religion vs Christianity

Some of you may be familiar with Willow Creek, a mega church, up in Chicago, and the pastor, Bill Hybels.  As a young pastor, Bill relates this story, which I‘m passing along to you. “Lynne and I were on a sailing trip. After anchoring in a harbor for the night, we [met] some people who invited us to come to their boat later to spend some time socializing with them and a few of their friends.
“It was when we were in the process of leaving [after the party] that the moment came. Lynne had already climbed down the ladder into the dinghy and I was halfway down myself when one of the people who had invited us aboard said, ‘Say, Bill, before you leave can you answer a question? I’ve always wanted to ask a Christian what it means to become one. Could you tell all of us?’
“Let’s do a freeze frame: If you’d been in my place, how would you have responded? Would you have been ready to give a succinct response to such an important question?
[Here’s Bill’s answer:] “First you’ve got to realize the difference between religion and Christianity. Religion is spelled ‘D-O,’ because it consists of the things people do to try to somehow gain God’s forgiveness and favor.
“But the problem is that you never know when you’ve done enough. It’s like being a salesman who knows he must meet a quota but is never told what it is. You can’t be sure you’ve done enough. Worse yet, the Bible tells us in Romans 3:23 that we never can do enough. We’ll always fall short of God’s perfect standard.
“But thankfully, Christianity is spelled ‘D-O-N-E,’ which means that what we could never do for ourselves, Christ has already done for us. He lived the perfect life we could never live, and He willingly died on the cross to pay the penalty we owed for our wrongs.
“To become a real Christian is to humbly receive God’s gift of forgiveness and to commit to following His leadership. When we do that, He adopts us into His family, and begins to change us from the inside out.”

None of us know when we may be called upon to give our personal answer to this question, but we must be prepared. “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…” 1 Peter 3:15. At least one of the “questioners” on the boat that evening came into relationship with Christ when he heard that response.  Never be afraid, ashamed or unprepared, the world needs to lovingly, unwaveringly hear the truth. Remember, Christ’s last words on the cross were, “It is DONE”, not keep on doing.