Life is not about getting what we deserve. In Christ, it never has been and it never will be. Were it so, Jesus would not have died for our sins. He would not have hung on a cross in agony to pay the penalty of death due to us. He would not have freely and willingly given Himself unto a punishment that He never deserved.
Life is not about what we deserve.
Over the years, many people have told me what they thought they deserved. Strangers, friends, and acquaintances have all expressed to me their grief for having cheated, stolen, killed, lied, manipulated, traumatized, abused, beaten, or been addicted to someone or something. They used the brokenness of their past and the things they had done to rationalize some kind of pain, affliction, or wrath that they were presently enduring or expected to receive in eternity from a Holy God.
And in reality, they’re not wrong. Jesus didn’t have to die in our stead, and we certainly didn’t deserve it, but He did it anyway. I’m thankful that God doesn’t relate our worth or value in His eyes with our deservingness of what He gives.
Instead, God saw us all—each and every one of us—as worth being saved: not because of anything we’ve ever done or ever could do, but simply because of His great love.
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Ephesians 2:1-9, English Standard Version
That last part is really important for us to remember. There is no number of spiritual acts that brings us into worthiness of what God has given or what He has withheld. Again, life isn’t about what we deserve. In fact, the grace that saves cannot be deserved by its very nature. Life and its fullness hinge on our response to a gracious God who freely gives that which we do not deserve: salvation through faith and by grace alone.
For a quite a while, I have been working on a piece about flippant, empty, ego-driven, and irreverent speech in the Church and calling for leaders and congregations alike to exercise their words of influence with reverence for both the God that we serve and the tremendous weight that words themselves carry. I’ve been working on and praying through, too, how to tackle both the big topics that I am inclined to and also the smaller, equally as important topics that can be written about hopefully more quickly as I want to share more frequently the content that I feel God is stirring in me.
I was just about to post what I’ve been working on, but I felt compelled and urged this Holy Week to share a word of encouragement before sharing a word of correction.
The idea of atonement and forgiveness and sin and worthiness and value and deserved outcome are theologically loaded terms and biblical concepts. I know that describing humanity as being “worthy” in the eyes of God to come and save us will irritate and frustrate the semantically-oriented critics. If you contest the notion of our worth in His eyes, read the most famous of all verses in the Bible, John 3:16. God’s love compelled Him to do what He did. His love ascribes and defines our worth, not our merit.
But I am not writing to those critics. I’m writing to you.
If you have ever grappled with a sense of feeling undeserving and unworthy of God’s presence because of what you have done, I have been there too. As a recovering addict of more than 10 years (which I am stoked to write more about soon to speak life into any hopelessness or isolation you feel), I can empathize with that pain, that guilt, that shame.
If you feel like you’re undeserving of His free gift of life and love and salvation, you’re right—you and I don’t deserve it—but God has given it anyway.
It doesn’t matter if you are or have been addicted, or stolen, or murdered, or raped, or aborted, or cheated, or lied, or manipulated, or abused, or beaten. You’re not too far off. You’re not too far gone. God still sees you, still wants you, and still loves you and desires a beautiful, freedom-filled relationship with Him through repentance and reconciliation.
This Holy Week, as we celebrate both the crucifixion on Good Friday and the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday, know that God loves you and sees you right where you are. The cross of Christ has spoken. Its verdict: you are forgiven in and through Him. The life of Jesus and His interactions with people serve as a permanent reminder that life isn’t about what you or I deserve. No past, present, or future thing that you do can separate you from His love.
Life is not about what we deserve. It’s about what He has done for us.
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:38-39, ESV
References:
Holy Bible: English Standard Version, Study Bible. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2011.
