Complete in Thee: Better Than I Deserve

Friday, June 26, 2009

Better Than I Deserve

Last night I was talking with one of my cousins on Instant Messenger, and I asked how she was doing. Instead of that normal lie-of-a-reply, "Good", she wrote this interesting answer:

"Not as good as I could be, but better than I deserve."

That made me start thinking. It is true, we are not always entirely "well"-- we may have physical pain, or a difficult family situation, or some emotional heartbreak, or tension with someone else. It can be easy to get caught up in dwelling on these things. It is also easy to try to cover them up and say we are well when we really are not.

But think.

What do we deserve? Do we deserve a bed of roses or perfect health? When I think about my sin, and what it did to my Saviour, I realize that I don't deserve the health I have, the wonderful church family that I have, the freedom that I have in this country, a room to myself... I don't even deserve to live. By my words and actions, by my very heart attitude, I have dishonoured my Creator and hurt my Saviour. I have rebelled against the One who gave me life-- surely I don't deserve life anymore.

But what is Grace?

It is God giving us what we do not deserve.

What did He give me?

He gave me Himself. He gave me salvation, by coming to this earth and living a perfect life, and then allowing Himself to be nailed to a cross and die in terrible agony... in my place... for me...so that I wouldn't have to die forever. He also rose again, giving me spiritual life in Him. He gave me His Holy Spirit to lead and guide me into all truth, and to give me power to live my new life for Him. He has given me His Word to show me His ways and His commands and His promises. He has given me a place in the body of Christ, so that I may encourage others in Him and be encouraged by others. He has given me talents and abilities to serve Him with. He has given me promises to be with me always. He has given me courage to face the impending days of danger. He has given me breath to breathe so that I might glorify Him before others on this earth. He has given me a home in Heaven where I may dwell with Him forever and praise Him in glorious perfection at last.

Those are only a few of the things He has given me, but thy are enough to show you that I fare far better than I deserve. Today I could be dead and in hell. But God loved me and gave me all these amazing blessings in Him. What an amazing, wonderful God we serve!

How are you doing today?

4 comments:

Meg said...: that is very thought provoking and sobering! thanks for that reminder :); June 26, 2009 at 12:17 PM
Margaret Dashwood said...: Good post Melanie...it really made me think. :)

BGA; June 26, 2009 at 2:36 PM
Amanda said...: Very good and thought-provoking!; June 28, 2009 at 9:13 PM
fly4ever_bga said...: P.s. I LOVE the picture.; June 30, 2009 at 8:53 AM

PRAYER REQUESTS

"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints" (Ephesians 6:18)

PLEASE PRAY...

* That I would draw nearer to God every day and never allow my relationship to become stagnant ritual; particularly that I would grow in the area of submission, patience, 1 Corinthians 13 love, and wholehearted devotion

* That I might have wisdom as I edit "The Marquis' Daughter"; that the Lord would bless and work through it; and that I might find just the right publisher for it.

* That I would submit to the Lord's work in my life, whatever it may be; that I would take each opportunity He brings me (even the seemingly hard ones) to draw closer to Him and point others to Him

*That our Etsy shop might be successful and that it would be a means by which we can glorify God and share the Gospel

Ephesians 2:1-10

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. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

"The heart set to do the Father's will need never fear defeat. His promises of guidance may be fully counted upon. Does it make sense to believe that the Shepherd would care less about getting His sheep where He wants them to go than they care about getting there?"

"God is God. Because He is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will, a will that is unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to."

"If God, like a father, denies us what we want now it is in order to give us some far better thing later on. The will of God, we can rest assured, is invariably a better thing."

"Obedience to God's will is the secret of spiritual knowledge and insight. It is not willingness to know, but willingness to DO (obey) God's will that brings certainty."

"Victory over all the circumstances of life comes not by might, nor by power, but by a practical confidence in God and by allowing His Spirit to dwell in our hearts and control our actions and emotions. Learn in the days of ease and comfort, to think in terms of the prayer that follows, so that when the days of hardship come you will be fully prepared and equipped to meet them."

"And shall I pray, Oh, change Thy will, my Father,
Until it be according unto mine?
Ah no, Lord, no, that never could be, rather
I pray Thee, Blend my human will with Thine."

"A crucified life cannot be self-assertive. It cannot protect itself. It cannot be startled into resentful words. The cup that is full of sweet water cannot spill bitter-tasting drops, however sharply it is knocked."

"And as we rest our hearts upon what we know (the certainty of the ultimate triumph of good), leaving what we do not know to the Love that has led us all our life long, the peace of God enters into us and abides. And then we see our light."

[A Practicing Christian]...it means that every single act and feeling, every experience, whether pleasant or unpleasant, must be referred to God. It means looking at everything as something that comes from Him, and always looking to Him and asking His will first, and saying, "How would he wish me to deal with this?"

Christ says: "Give me all. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work. I want you."

"I was not born to be free. I was born to adore and to obey."

"What is saving but taking us out of the dark into the light? There is no salvation but to know God and grow like Him."

"I will not try to convince you of anything about God. I cannot. You must know Him. I only tell you I believe in Him with all my heart. You must ask Him to explain Himself to you, and not take it for granted that He has done you a wrong because He has done what you do not like. Whether you seek Him or not, He will do you justice. But He cannot explain Himself unless you seek Him."

"Sometimes a thunderbolt will shoot from a clear sky; and sometimes into the life of a peaceful individual, without warning of gathered storm, something terrible will fall. And from that moment everything is changed. That life is no more what it was. Better it ought to be, worse it may be. The result depends on the life itself and it's response to the invading storm of trouble. Forever after, it's spiritual weather is altered. But for the one who believes in God, such rending and frightful catastrophies never come but where they are turned around for good in his own life and in other lives he touches."