"God put His love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to Him." - Romans 5:8, The Message
Today I was grabbed by a powerful thought: that we are worth less than we think we are, but also loved more than we think we are.
What that means is that each of us really believes we're basically a "good" person, when the truth is that there is no one good, except God (Mark 10:18). In some ways we think more highly of ourselves than we ought. But, paradoxically, we also think less of ourselves than we should. I think every human being struggles with feeling valuable, worthy, loved... But, again, the reality is that we are loved, incredibly, by the God of the universe (Jeremiah 31:3).
Those two tensions meet up in the Gospel, the incredible good news of Jesus that we are worse off than we want to believe, but more deeply loved than we dare dream. Isn't it amazing that the cross is the meeting place of so many opposites: God's wrath and mercy, the sin of the world and Jesus' righteousness, our unworthiness and a relentless divine desire for us?
It's amazing, and I am humbled and encouraged by the depths of my own sin and the great love of God for me.
Today I was grabbed by a powerful thought: that we are worth less than we think we are, but also loved more than we think we are.
What that means is that each of us really believes we're basically a "good" person, when the truth is that there is no one good, except God (Mark 10:18). In some ways we think more highly of ourselves than we ought. But, paradoxically, we also think less of ourselves than we should. I think every human being struggles with feeling valuable, worthy, loved... But, again, the reality is that we are loved, incredibly, by the God of the universe (Jeremiah 31:3).
Those two tensions meet up in the Gospel, the incredible good news of Jesus that we are worse off than we want to believe, but more deeply loved than we dare dream. Isn't it amazing that the cross is the meeting place of so many opposites: God's wrath and mercy, the sin of the world and Jesus' righteousness, our unworthiness and a relentless divine desire for us?
It's amazing, and I am humbled and encouraged by the depths of my own sin and the great love of God for me.