More than Grateful

This has been a crazy few weeks for our family. There have been job changes and schedule changes, meeting new people, and new opportunities. Summer is quickly approaching so, like for many, the school year is also winding down. My family has been spending time reflecting on our life over the last few years. Mistakes we have made and challenges we have faced. Times of being faithful and triumphant over the enemy and times when we have failed miserably. There have been friendships lost and relationships blossomed into true camaraderie and Christ has been by our side through it all. We have been awed by the blessings poured out on us. Prayers answered beyond our wildest dreams. I am sure if you have a pattern of wrestling in prayer over life's challenges you have seen it too. God is faithful. Those times when God has delivered us or delivered TO us exactly what we need often surprise us. I have also had the privilege of praying for the needs of dear friends who are struggling to make it from day to day, to see God hear our specific prayer and intervene in ways only He can. As I think about it all in context to God's word I realize that we are deserving of NONE of it. This is not minimizing our worth. In God's eyes our value is such that He sent Christ to suffer a martyrs death to redeem us. We are however, undeserving.

 

I am not a fan of the word deserve. Our culture throws it around a lot. We tell ourselves, we deserve a vacation, we deserve a pedicure, we deserve a new car, or we deserve to be treated better, and so on. This is not a biblical perspective. In reality the only thing our sinful, self-centered souls deserve is hell. "But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away." Isaiah 64:6. We cannot understand the gravity of our relationship with Christ until we acknowledge this fact. We are not good, righteous, loving, or anything holy apart from Christ. And when we give our lives to Him we are still not righteous, it is only Him in us that is righteous. To understand that is key to drawing closer to Him. It creates and overwhelming gratitude for every blessing from Him. I am humbled at the thought that we even know His name and He allows us to speak to Him! That is only because He has chosen to reveal himself to us and allows Himself to be known. "John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.” John 1:26-27. When we realize our position before Christ we are humbled and awed by the blessings and rewards from Him. No accomplishment is strictly from our own effort, it is a reward from Christ. Consider the meaning of the doxology so often sung in our houses of worship.

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

 

We are nothing without Christ which should not make us feel sorry for ourselves. On the contrary, it makes us grateful and humble that, as Horatio Spafford so eloquently penned in the lyrics of It is Well with My Soul, "Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, Let this blest assurance control, That Christ has regarded my helpless estate, And hath shed His own blood for my soul." Our estate was more helpless than we can even fathom yet he shed His precious blood for our souls.

 

When we process the facts this way it makes it hard to utter a word about what we deserve. Satan tries to convince us of what we deserve because it is always more than what we have. It produces an attitude of being discontent. We have  more than we need and infinitely more than we deserve. Being content is the last thing Satan wants however. When we inflate our position it produces an attitude of entitlement equated with what we in our deceived minds feel we deserve. "He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities." Psalm 103:10. We are quick to assess our position before others when the only position to be measured is the position before Christ. We are completely indebted to Him for our very existence. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." James 1:17. Christ commands that we work hard, to be diligent in our labor, but the fruit produced from that is a reward, God's blessing to us. It is by His strength we are able to work at all.

 

So as we look at our lives, let us be faithful to see all the gifts from above. Let us be grateful acknowledging that we are not capable of success without Christ. May we be humble knowing that whatever we have that is good comes from Him and we are utterly undeserving. Also, let us not allow Satan to distract us by pointing out what we do not have and by doing so create a heart that is discontent. Our savior's sacrifice to redeem us is enough and our eternal gratitude will never be. Whatever we think we deserve, we do not. This mind set will create a thankful heart and will bring us closer to Christ. So, my family is exceedingly grateful for this time of transition, for the trials we faced to get here, and all the blessings that have followed. We are truly undeserving.