Sometimes

Sometimes I feel like I’m struggling. Sometimes I feel like I’m failing. Sometimes I try to evaluate my ability to do this whole Christian thing and feel discouraged after my assessment. Sometimes I feel incapable, unprepared, unready and uneasy. Sometimes, I don’t even feel an ounce of worthiness to do much of anything for the Kingdom.

I realized something about all this..

In thinking these things I have allowed myself to adopt a false version of the gospel. This version tells me that God saved me so that I could do better, and try to be better, on my own. This version puts conditions on grace, with a nice price tag on it, too.

Recently I have needed reminders that God saved me in order that he might continue doing so for the rest of my life. I’ve been forgetting that God saved me all the while knowing I would still be a work in progress after the fact. This real Gospel doesn’t yell at me for not having my life all together. Rather, it gently reminds me of a pool of grace that has no shallow end.

The real Gospel of Jesus Christ grants people permission to admit that they’re thirsty and hungry and broken and poor. Better yet, the real Gospel of Jesus Christ invites people to come and drink and be fed and be healed and in doing so, to recognize their riches.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.”

It is your work, Jesus. May I never get over the fact that you delight in the process that this work is.

Blessings.