15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.
If we can insert our name into this sentence we will have a good life. A life of worth is lived between two poles, that of the salvation Jesus purchased and our full acceptance of our sinfulness, our need for that salvation. Too often as we walk this life of faith in Jesus, we drift away from the knowledge of our utter sinfulness, our complete and total need for the work of God in our lives. We think we are only partially sick with sin, or that we can add something to the work of Christ. These claims are utter folly. We will remain sinners saved by grace. When we step into eternity in its fullness we will know that we are sinners to the core. We will also recognize the total grace of our loving God. All praise and honor will be given to Him to whom it belongs. There will be no egos getting in the way, no trophy walls or medals, no crowds of adoring fans. All eyes and hearts will be inclined toward the One who deserves all our praise. No one will stand proud on that day. All will willingly bow before the Lord knowing that they don’t deserve to be in His presence. So how can we drift in this direction of self-importance in our current life situations? How can our lives of faith turn into lives of deserve? I think this happens when we take our eyes of Jesus we drift into self-importance. Our narcissistic culture with the emphasis on “me” pulls our focus away from truly important matters. We lose perspective amidst the never ending bombardment of “buy me now” urgencies. We see our neighbors moving up the “stuff” ladder and we are driving to think “we work just as hard as they do, so we deserve that stuff just as much as they do.” But all this “stuff” amounts to nothing of eternal value. It will all pass away. We need to live a life between these two poles of our full knowledge of our own sinfulness and the knowledge of the abundance of His grace. This is the place of fulfillment!
The Arnold Journey 