How many times have you thought to yourself "I deserve this" or "I am such a good person"? How many times have you done something kind and boasted about it? How many times have you done something nice or something that would be seen as admirable, but made sure that people noticed so that you could receive praise or attention? First of all, you are not alone. I want to start this off by saying that none of us have perfect intentions or a completely selfless heart. It isn't in our nature. What I do want to say,is that we have a guide to show us how to have a selfless heart and He forgives us along the way when we don't quite get it right, which is more times than not.
I am going to lay it flat out there. My heart is broken, filled with sin and self interest. I am not the perfect example of a Christian by any means. I write this to you out of mutual brokenness and out of a desire to want to become better for Christ. I write this and it is freeing as I take a step closer to grace, a step closer to realizing I am imperfect, a step towards realizing how badly I need a perfect Savior. I am unworthy.
In this world we live in, there seems to be a common theme that contradicts all of what I have just said. In this world, it has become common for people to believe that we are responsible for our joy and the good things that come in our lives, that we are worthy of all good things, that we deserve praise and adoration when we do something right, that we should praise ourselves for our successes.
The problem with all of this is that by praising ourselves, we diminish everything God has done for us and make His works seem obsolete and insignificant. It is almost as if Jesus dying on the cross was just another event on the news that people forget in a week when the next tragedy happens. Stop right there. Go back, all the way back to the cross and imagine the masses of people shouting hate towards Christ begging for Him to die. Imagine being completely innocent, never doing wrong in your whole life, and having people who said they loved you, people who begged you to heal them, people who you gave nothing but love to, turn around and ask for your death. Now imagine during and after all of this, still wanting a relationship with those people and wanting those people to avoid any punishment. It sounds crazy right? I mean we can't even forgive someone when they talk about us behind our backs. How could we ever forgive people who begged for us to die?
That's the thing. We are incapable of a forgiveness like that, but Jesus, oh Jesus has done it for us. Not only has He forgiven us, but He has payed all of our debts, made us exempt from death, and asked for us to be in His kingdom with Him. Can you imagine killing the queen of England and then having her say "I forgive you, now come let me give you this amazing life full of the greatest things you have ever known and come live with me and be my friend and oh yeah, I love you so much and always will"? That would NEVER happen. Not only that, but the queen pails in comparison to Jesus. She doesn't even come close to how special and great He is.
So to bring it back full circle, how many of you would say that any of the nice things you have done could ever compare to what Jesus has done for us? I don't write this to discourage you or to say what you do doesn't matter, because your good works do matter, but I want to remind us all that no matter how much good we do, we still can never be as good as Christ. I write this not to make you feel bad about yourself, but to remind you that we are not the ones who deserve praise. Let us boast of our brokenness so that Jesus' perfection can be exhaulted. Let us remember how we could never offer such forgiveness so we don't forget how loved we are by Him. Let us never forget that the wages of sin are death, so we always remember that we are saved. Let us remember that He is worthy of His name
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