Austin Lambert got to preach this past Sunday. He talked about being worthy of the calling of Christ from a passage in 2 Thessalonians. This is an idea that I have struggled with on and off throughout the years. I am totally depraved. I do not deserve Christ or his gift of salvation, and yet by the grace of God, here I am. And that is really the clincher, isn’t it? By the grace of God! I am made worthy because God makes it so, through his grace! That is such an uplifting thing. We are taught that everyone is a sinner, there is no one perfect but Jesus, we are broken, dirty, and deserve death. What a joy comes to my heart to know that though all of that is true, my God loves me and makes me worthy to bear his name because He says so. And how that pushes me into action is remarkable. It’s as if this is the motivational speech that God strategically placed for those of us who need positive reinforcement. I know that is a crude analogy but still, it makes sense doesn’t it?
Something I learned when taking graduate classes last fall was that when you delve deep into the Word and you spend a good portion of your day thinking about God, it leaves you feeling just like Paul when he said “I am the worst of sinners.” It really makes you feel that way! And I believe it is meant to. The problem I had was that once I got that feeling of depravity…I mean REALLY got it so deep down that it made me want to be in a constant state of metaphorical ashes and sack cloth, I decided I needed to take a step back from God. If he’s going to make me feel this way, I thought, I’m gonna have to take a break because it’s making me really unhappy. And I think that may be a place where a lot of people end up. It took me a couple of months to realize what I had done was that I had decided that God didn’t make me happy, so I wanted something else. I took a route of idolatry. But, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. God pointed me back to Him and showed me that that place where I ended up…that deep depravity that I felt…was exactly the state where God (shown in examples throughout the Bible) comes in, shows you his incredibly marvelous grace, and shows you that He makes you clean. You are truly made free in Christ from the bondage your depravity holds you in. So yes we are unclean because of sin, but God in his wonderful love, makes us worthy to be called Children of the Living God. It is this discovery that has put me in a state of joy so profound that it makes me want to act upon it. That is the goal. That we have such joy in God and his mercy and grace that we act in such a way that it pleases God and glorifies Him. He makes me worthy of His calling…what a joy it is to show the world by building my brothers and sisters in Christ up to love and good deeds. It is a joy that causes me to desire to love my neighbor even when I don’t want to and to seek after my Savior with all of my life. It is a life changing joy that is spurred on by God’s grace…His worthiness.
-- C3 Member - Heather Bowshier
-- C3 Member - Heather Bowshier
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