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"
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