We Deserve It

I was listening to an internet radio station recently when an ad came on for a flower delivery service. The narrator's claim was that men should buy flowers for the special ladies in their life because the ladies deserve it. Isn't that an interesting thought, to buy flowers for your wife/girlfriend because she has done something to deserve them? What am I to do when my wife does not deserve flowers? This ad lingered in my head for a while, as I considered that my wife, Joelle, does not deserve my love, nor I hers. I'm a hopeless romantic, huh?

This is a truth we should find joy and hope in: None of us are deserving of love. If we take the Bible seriously, and as fact, it is obvious throughout the whole book. The reader may be familiar with the biographies of Adam and Eve, the first two humans who were created by God and he loved them. Why? They had done nothing to lend to their creation and clearly had no time to do anything of worth before God set his love upon them. He loved them out of his own choice, not because their actions demanded it. Later in their lives, they committed the first sin, or disobedience of God, letting sin and death enter the world. As Romans 5:12 says "...sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned..."

Now because of Adam and Eve's disobedience, we are all disobedient and destined for death. All of mankind are born sinful and all "the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth." (Genesis 8:21b) We came to a place as a species where every act, thought, and will is wicked; we "glory in (our) shame" and our "god is (our) belly," (Philippians 3:19) finding it good to be evil and worshiping our selfish desires.

This is not only clear in scripture, but it is clear in the world. Death is an obvious component, with over two million deaths in 2010 in the U.S. alone, according to the CDC. Even the presence of wickedness is obvious to the naked eye. I do not feel the need to point out specifics, as the reader may turn on the news and see for themselves. There is obviously something wrong with the world, and it is obviously mankind.

Why would I find joy and hope in this truth of the wickedness of mankind? I think it is most clear by showing the opposite situation, when I do not believe this truth in my relationship with Joelle (or any friend, really). When I think I deserve the love of my wife, I am less satisfied in her love. When I think I have earned her affection or my actions demand she make me dinner, wash my clothes, and spend our time as I wish, I am not happy when she does these things. Rather, I am upset and angry when she does not clean the apartment, tend to my every need, or wake up when I do. As well, when I think she should deserve my love, I find no joy in showing it to her. If I think she could ever deserve me making her lunch in the morning, hanging up curtains, or buying her favorite soda, I will not ever do it out of love, but out of "necessity" and with grumbling.

However, when I hold our flesh's wickedness to be true, I find joy in her love for me because I know I did not deserve it. When I come home or wake up to a clean apartment, I know that nothing I did dictated Joelle should do that for me. She did it out of love. Furthermore, when I remember Joelle could never earn my love, I find joy in showing it to her. I make her lunch in the morning knowing that she didn't deserve it and I am showing her not an action that necessity was laid upon me to do, but one I wanted to.

I hope it is clear I am not writing of my relationship with my wife, but our relationship with God. We know we have done nothing to deserve his love and have only shown wickedness and contempt toward him. Yet he sent his son, Jesus, not because we deserved it, but because he wanted to. I am not speaking solely to non-Christians here, so Christians don't tune out - we all must continually understand what Jesus Christ has done for us. He lived the perfect life we could never live, died the death we could not, raised to life again, and ascended to pay for the sins we commit daily.

This means his payment is completely and exclusively out of his grace and mercy for us. Again, we have done nothing to necessitate these actions and have done nothing of love to him that would demand his love for us. So when we first realize the position our sin has put us in with God, we must turn to Christ and ask for this grace and mercy that comes only through faith because we cannot work our way to it. And after we have accepted his free grace and are saved as Christians, we must continue to realize we have not earned his love and cannot. There is no arrogance to be had and no striving to be done, the work is completed and being completed in us.

So I find joy in this truth of our wickedness because it means God loves me out of his own will, and out of true love. I never have to work for his favor or affection - I cannot - but simply have faith in Christ's death and resurrection. I will close with a quote from rap artist Propaganda, explaining that our value is not determined by anything we do, but by how much one loves us:

But worth, value, and beauty is not determined by some innate qualityBut by the length for which the owner would go to possess themAnd broken and ugly things just like us are stamped "Excellent"

"But Christians Still Sin..."

I have known a lot of Christians in my short 23 years. You know what's interesting? Each of them sin daily, including myself. Day-in and day-out I sin constantly, continuously, disobeying God's law in exchange for some selfish acts... but I talk as if I no longer desire to sin. Phrases like "free from sin" or "a slave to righteousness" can be heard from my lips, with actions to argue fervently against my words. I know I'm not the only one. Someone recently said to me they became a Christian but they always fall back and go into their old sinful ways, leading to a lot of frustration in their lives. If you ask any honest Christian, they will say the same. So why is this? Why do Christians sin so much?


First, it is important to address why Christians say they should not sin any longer. A Bible study I'm in studied Romans 6 right after the conversation I mentioned earlier (I pause here to give a hat-tip to those I study with for the wisdom they shared in the Spirit that I will be using in this post). This chapter is filled with language of freeing believers in Christ from sin, and instead having them cling to righteousness. Paul, the writer of Romans, ends chapter 5 saying that where sin was abundant, God's grace was extended even more, so that it will be in control through Jesus. He continues like so:
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
(Romans 6:1-11, ESV)

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Paul's argument in this passage is that the increasing extension of grace in the presence of sin is not a reason to continue sinning. The evidence of this is Christ's death and resurrection. Jesus' perfect life, death, and powerful raising are the ideal visual of how our life in sin has ended and our life in God's righteousness has begun for the Christian. Our sinful nature (old self) was killed with Jesus so it would be destroyed and we are no longer slaves to it. So if we died with him, we surely have been raised and will live with him. His resurrection shows his conquering of death and, therefore our sinful nature, so that we are free to live to God. "So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus."

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. (Romans 6:12-14, ESV)

Here is the instruction for the Christian, who is dead to sin and alive in Christ, free from sin's power and free to live for God. We have no more reason to sin, we no longer are required to by our master unrighteousness. We are no longer subject to the law, which brings death, but we are subject to grace, which brings life.

Some may raise the question "if we are not subject to the law, doesn't that mean we can continue to sin with no consequences?" That is Paul's next point. Christians are not free to do whatever they want, but in this analogy they are free from sin's rule and have switched to being under the rule of a righteous God. This next passage displays a basic truth of human nature: we are always slaves to our nature. Before I was a Christian, I was a slave to my sinful nature and my flesh's selfish desires but now that God has single-handedly changed my nature through his Son, I am a slave to righteousness. I do the things I do because I want the things I want. When I wanted to sin, I sinned, but now that my nature wants to do good in God's name, I do good in God's name.

What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:15-23, ESV)

 Here's what this might look like if we put it in a modern analogy. Say you have a job and while you're working, someone you don't recognize walks in and starts telling you what to do. You find out he does not work at the company and therefore has no authority over you. Do you follow his instructions? No. You continue to do what the boss you know tells you. Fast forward a year. You've left your place of employment and have come to work at a new company. Who do you find is in charge but this man who tried to tell you what to do a year ago at your old job. Do you follow his instruction now? Of course!

I hope we understand now the transformation that happens when we are committed to Christ. Our nature changes from a selfish, sinful nature to one that desires to serve God, we are not slaves to sin, but to righteousness. This is where the confusion between what we read in scripture and what we see in our lives comes in. If the Bible tells me that Christians are not supposed to sin, why are they sinning as much as anyone else?

A major key to understanding comes not in the sixth chapter of Romans, but in the fact it exists. If we all stopped sinning as soon as we were saved, would this chapter be necessary? What would the point be to tell Christians that they should not sin or that they are no longer slaves to their flesh if they could not sin? But this passage, and those like it, exist as an encouragement to live in the manner we have been newly created to be. It would not be here if we did not need to hear it and we were not still capable of sin.

Christians are like the person who was in the military for years under the same commanding officer. They were trained to snap to attention at the sight of their officer and do as he said. Once they left the military, there was no need to present themselves to the officer the same way. But walking down the street they see their former officer and out of habit, because it used to be required of them, they snap to attention before they realize it is not necessary. In the same way, we used to be under sin's rule but have been set free. However, it was so ingrained in us, we still act as if it has dominion, as if we need to snap to attention every time we see opportunity to sin.

There is a truth in the Bible we refer to as sanctification. This is the progressive act of shaping us to look more like Christ everyday and to remove the habits of sin from our lives. This work is not promised to be complete until the day of Christ, when he returns. So we struggle with sin as God shapes us, knowing our salvation is secure, not using it as a reason or excuse.

We are all born with a nature of sin and selfishness and like a man in jail, we are unable to declare ourselves free and walk out the front door. Someone else needs to do this for us. That is why Jesus lived a perfect life, died, and raised from the dead to conquer sin and death. Now those who trust him are set free, and even though we are continually breaking habits, we know it is a process and find freedom knowing it is God's work in his children.

Arrogance in Planning

My life has had a lot of changes in the last month or two. I got married, moved out of my parents' house, and started attending a different church (congregation) with my new wife. These changes were either not how I saw my life going or happened sooner than I thought they would, but they were the will of God. That's a little bold to say, isn't it? Whenever someone claims that something is the will of God, it can strike us as kind of hokey, or even arrogant, but I can say with confidence that something that has already happened in my life was just that. In fact, it is arrogant of me to talk about my future with certainty, thinking I control it.

We find evidence of this in James 4:13-16. Verse 13 sets up the situation many (all) of us put ourselves in, making a plan to do something tomorrow, or even today. I am sure I have already done this today, and I'm sure you have as well. In fact, this morning I woke up and said "I'm going to drive my wife to work, then sit at a coffee shop and blog, read, and write some poems. Later we'll go to the beach with her family." So far, this is actually working out for me, but verse 14 reminds us that we cannot have confidence in that because we don't know what the day will bring.

Think on this a bit. How many times have we made plans and knew everything that would happen that day without a doubt? Never. How many times have we made plans that never came to fruition because something outside of our control affected them? This verse is backed not only by our belief that the Bible is infallible, but by common, empirical evidence. Humans do not control everything in the world, and they cannot. My plans are not the be-all and end-all of the universe and I should not hold them as such. Countless events could have happened this morning to keep me from driving my wife to work and writing this blog in a coffee shop that my plans had no control over. For my life is short and insignificant compared to time as a whole; it holds no power over the world.

At this point, if anyone here says "well it is unwise to plan then" should continue reading James 4, for this is not the point nor the end-goal of this passage. The reader will notice that the correct and right way to plan is given in verse 15 and it still very much contains planning, but in humility. It is alright and good to make plans and goals, but with the understanding that God is Lord and is in control. My attitude this morning should not have been one of confidence that I would be able to drive my wife to work and come to a coffee shop, but one of humbly knowing that my plan may not come to be the way I envisioned it because I am not in control.

Here are the implications of this verse and attitude: nothing happens in our lives apart from God's will. There may be some friction between the reader and this statement, so let me try and sand it down, although I don't believe this will ever be an easy pill to swallow. I'll start with a question: why would the correct attitude be to say "if the Lord wills" if he is not 100% in control? Then he would be helpless to affect our plans like us, and we could not leave them up to his will. It would not be correct to say "if the Lord wills" because there are forces beyond his control that might upset not only our plans, but his will. So if he was not sovereign (in control), we could not say "if the Lord wills" but rather "if it just so happens." Here, an objector could say that he does not will everything, but allows some things to happen. Does this language not imply things happen outside his will? But this is not what the divinely inspired James writes. I see no way calling the statement "if the Lord wills" correct leaves room for God to not be sovereign over all or for him to simply allow something to happen outside of his will. If it happens, it is God's will.

This opens a whole new mess of why we suffer or experience pain. Why do we get cancer* or get into horrible car wrecks inside of God's will? To be honest, we will not perfectly understand here on Earth, but many wise people have written about just this if you are seeking a better understanding. What we can know is that God is good (Psalm 100:5), is working everything for our good (Romans 8:28), and is sovereign (Proverbs 19:21). We can also know that making plans with confidence is foolish and arrogant, because we are not in control like God is.

When my bride and I wed, when we signed the lease of our apartment, when I left the congregation I attended for our new one, I could be confident it was God's will for my life. The Bible teaches that nothing could happen outside of his good and perfect will and I can be happy knowing we acted inside of his will, as these decisions were not sin. So as we grow to be more like Christ in our Christian walk, we should ask him to humble us in our plan making. We should strive to not speak of plans as if they were in our control, but rather desires subject to change. God is Lord of all and his will will be enacted in our lives, through or despite our plans.




* This link is to a blog that was written by my late father-in-law during his battle with cancer. I highly recommend reading the whole thing if you are struggling with the question of "why?"

A Realization

I suppose this post is not so much something to teach, but share. Like anyone, I become easily dismayed, with this blog included. I suppose I know nothing I can say is new or revolutionary, so I wonder why bother.
But I am not called to wonder whether or not my posts are wonderful or new, but if it's truthful and possibly helpful. I may not be the first to say what I say, but I may be the first to say it that you know of. So in that way I have said something that you may have never heard before, despite others saying it, because you have not heard of them.
It may seem like a small consolation  but it is enough. To know one person could be affected by something I write is enough to do so. Besides, like I alluded to, I have an obligation to write of such things.

For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

(1 Corinthians 9:16 ESV)