Grace

We are told from day one that our value comes from things we do and that, without them, we have none. We think we have to be funny, smart, polite, on time, patient, beautiful, or any number of trivial things in order to be a worthwhile human being. This is painfully obvious when you look at how stressed and worried we become about homework or deadlines or our appearance or anything, really. Everyone’s list of things they “need to do” is different, but the outcome is the same: it crushes us. The weight of these expectations is overwhelming and leaves so little room for joy or peace or contentment.

When a sense of obligation overpowers the desire for something beautiful, something we actually want to do, it is a sad day indeed. The New Testament calls this living under "the law," referring to the old covenant laws given to Moses. Jews at that time received their sense of value from rigidly keeping these commands and, although the rules have changed significantly, the game is still unanimously popular, and the desire to prove our merit is as strong as ever.

But we can never quite live up to these expectations: we end up constantly “keeping up with the Jones’s.” We’re never quite smart enough or funny enough, we can never get with enough girls, we never have enough money, and we can never perform well enough to find real, lasting fulfillment. Even though struggling to find redemption in our deeds leaves us weary, exhausted, empty, and vacant, “[we do] not know the righteousness that comes from God and [seek] to establish [our] own” (Romans 10:3). But Romans 3:20 says that "no one will be declared righteous in His sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin." It seems counterintuitive, but this “law” exists to open our eyes to how desperately incapable of following it we really are. The different feelings of obligation that we all seem to have reflect our perceptions of what perfection looks like, of what we would have to do to be God, and for whatever reason we are very inclined to try. But “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Faced with this impossible standard of perfection we have a choice: we either accept and embrace our inability to live up to it or suffer under the delusion that we have NOT sinned by justifying and excusing every one of our failings until they are all shoved under the rug. But the rug gets cluttered very quickly, and it’s not long before we start to trip over it. We try so incredibly hard to convince ourselves that we are God and are somehow so blind to just how helpless we really are. We fail, and we fail hard. Do you know that you have sinned? We all have, but because the world teaches that our value is tethered to our actions we feel compelled to cover up the nastiest of evils because at the core of human nature is a need to be valued. As a result, all of our immorality is ignored and allowed to fester in our souls, and the weight of shame becomes almost too much to bear.

Every day, by the way we live our lives, we perpetuate the lie that the criminal in jail is worth less than the businessman on Wall Street, that the student with B’s is worth less than the student with A’s, and that the beggar on the street is worth less than us. But God couldn’t disagree more. Somehow, through truly amazing grace, He sees more value in each one of us than we will ever fully comprehend. He smiles at every silly thing we do, he claps when we succeed, and he cries when we venture down the wrong path. Anyone who has ever felt warm-hearted affection towards an animal or small child has a taste of the love that God pours out on us every second of every day. He wants us to know him, to seek him, and to find him because He knows that He is what our hearts have been searching for all along. God didn’t abandon us in our hopeless situation, but instead he “so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Romans 10:4 says, “Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.” We “are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” God is not an enemy, but actually wants to be your best friend, and He and His son are just dying (quite literally) for a chance to meet you.

"My love is over, it's underneath, it's inside, it's in between
The times you doubt Me, when you can't feel.
The times that you question, 'Is this for real? '
The times you're broken.
The times that you mend.
The times you hate Me.
And the times that you bend…

These times you're healing,
And when your heart breaks.
The times that you feel like you've fallen from grace.
The times you're hurting.
The times that you heal.
The times you go hungry and are tempted to steal.
In times of confusion and chaos and pain.

I'm there in your sorrow under the weight of your shame.
I'm there through your heartache.
I'm there in the storm.
My love, I will keep you by My power alone.
I don't care where you’ve fallen,
Or where you have been.
I'll never forsake you, My love never ends.
It never ends.”

- “Times” by Tenth Avenue North