Thursday, September 5, 2013

There is nothing good in me

People will often call out to God, offering a thanks that when they couldn't find anything good within them, that they are thankful that God saw something good in them and chose to forgive them... I have a little bit of an issue with this line of thinking... 

I really appreciate the sentiment, and I am thankful that we are able to admit that there is nothing good in us... but I think we sometimes miss the boat in thinking that God saw something in us worth saving. It laughs in the face of the total depravity of man for me to assume that, even though I couldn't see it, there was something good in me, and that one fleck of good was enough for God to rescue me. For me, the truth is that there was truly nothing good in me, not even that fleck... it was not because of ANY good that existed in me that God chose to empty Himself of glory, put on the flesh of man, come to earth as a baby, live a perfect life, be brutally murdered, stay in a tomb for 3 days, rise (conquering sin and death), walk the earth with His followers once again, to then ascend to the right hand of God. He did not choose to do that because there was something good in me, or you, or anyone else... He chose to do that for His glory

He chose to enter into history, to take utterly desolate, desperately wicked, totally depraved people like you and me and tell us that even though there is not one shred of good within us, that He can still restore us to what we were created to be... He can place us back into the right standing before God... He will become sin, never knowing sin Himself, and give us His righteousness... not because I deserve it or because there is anything good in me, but because, without Him, there never will be... but with Him, He can work through me and shine His glory through me, and others can see His love through me, and others can understand that their own brokeness is only healed through Him, and they can't earn it, or be good enough for it, or do anything to deserve it... 

He calls us to Himself by our name... when that amazing grace comes upon us, we echo the words of Paul that while I live, not I, but Christ who lives within me... transforming us from the inside out back into the image and likeness of God... so that after we live our lives on this earth, after we have gone through this sanctification, we are glorified and perfected into our right standing before God... but only because, as we abide in Christ, He abides in us... God didn't rescue you because of anything short of His glory being magnified through the redemption of a completely wrecked vessel back to perfection.

Its all for His glory, by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone... 

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