Who am I?
I got called out today. Once in a subtle, and once in an obvious way. And both left me that much the better. Because we could all use a second look, another glance, at ourselves. Not as we think we are, and even more so not as we would like ourselves to be, but as we truly are.
That's why we, that's why I, so often hate correction, because it brings us face to face with the person we most often avoid...
...ourselves.
Think about it, how often do you really get a good look at the person in the mirror? How comfortable are you telling yourself that some of what you've done in the days, hours and minutes past was selfish, lazy, lustful, murderous, jealous...etc...
I was lazy this morning, and that moment of weakness, of coasting, of shirking duties is a part of a larger system of being as my father once said, "as lazy as respectability allows." Do I truly love my Jesus? Is my life so hard that I cannot deny myself? Is my life so trying that I cannot strive mightily to better myself, an effort ascribed to someone far too weak for all tasks (apart from my Jesus)? Jesus was beaten beyond recognition, he was spit on, he was ridiculed, he was forced to carry a cross on his mutilated back through streets lined with people, most of whom had been there to welcome him into Jerusalem, cheering...now jeering. He had to endure that, and more...
...the full weight of the punishment for sin, which is death.
So, who am I? Who am I that I might say that looking at myself too closely is too much to bear? We are lied to, by ourselves and by voices around us, saying "seek comfort in ingnorance" and "don't feel ashamed, there's other people that sin far more and worse than you do."
No! We are all the worst of sinners, if saved, then saved by grace. Jesus is not my homeboy, HE IS MY SAVIOR! Saving not my body, but my soul! And we would have the audacity, the small-minded kind of selfish courage that says, "you are strong." And if you believe such nonsense, then you have never been weaker.
When we admit the truth about ourselves, that apart from God we can do no good (Ecclesiasties 7:20), that we have all fallen short of the glory of God by way of our sin, (Romans 3:23), then and only then are we taken advantage of one of our strongest and greatest weapons given to us by our Jesus...the truth. Jesus even goes so far as to call himself the truth (John 14:6).
And that is what we must seek, daily, in our world, in our relationships, in our Jesus and in our God...
But we must daily live with an awareness, a deep-piercing knowledge, of the truth about ourselves.
Who am I? I am a sinner saved by grace. Grace that is ever sufficient for me.
"He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8).
One cannot be humble without knowing himself in a deep and powerful way.
iC c
That's why we, that's why I, so often hate correction, because it brings us face to face with the person we most often avoid...
...ourselves.
Think about it, how often do you really get a good look at the person in the mirror? How comfortable are you telling yourself that some of what you've done in the days, hours and minutes past was selfish, lazy, lustful, murderous, jealous...etc...
I was lazy this morning, and that moment of weakness, of coasting, of shirking duties is a part of a larger system of being as my father once said, "as lazy as respectability allows." Do I truly love my Jesus? Is my life so hard that I cannot deny myself? Is my life so trying that I cannot strive mightily to better myself, an effort ascribed to someone far too weak for all tasks (apart from my Jesus)? Jesus was beaten beyond recognition, he was spit on, he was ridiculed, he was forced to carry a cross on his mutilated back through streets lined with people, most of whom had been there to welcome him into Jerusalem, cheering...now jeering. He had to endure that, and more...
...the full weight of the punishment for sin, which is death.
So, who am I? Who am I that I might say that looking at myself too closely is too much to bear? We are lied to, by ourselves and by voices around us, saying "seek comfort in ingnorance" and "don't feel ashamed, there's other people that sin far more and worse than you do."
No! We are all the worst of sinners, if saved, then saved by grace. Jesus is not my homeboy, HE IS MY SAVIOR! Saving not my body, but my soul! And we would have the audacity, the small-minded kind of selfish courage that says, "you are strong." And if you believe such nonsense, then you have never been weaker.
When we admit the truth about ourselves, that apart from God we can do no good (Ecclesiasties 7:20), that we have all fallen short of the glory of God by way of our sin, (Romans 3:23), then and only then are we taken advantage of one of our strongest and greatest weapons given to us by our Jesus...the truth. Jesus even goes so far as to call himself the truth (John 14:6).
And that is what we must seek, daily, in our world, in our relationships, in our Jesus and in our God...
But we must daily live with an awareness, a deep-piercing knowledge, of the truth about ourselves.
Who am I? I am a sinner saved by grace. Grace that is ever sufficient for me.
"He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8).
One cannot be humble without knowing himself in a deep and powerful way.
iC c
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