Wednesday, December 1, 2010

We Need Most What We Deserve Least

The other day, I had a conversation with a friend who was in a position of needing to ask for forgiveness. She had called for some advice and encouragement, but she was struggling with the idea of unconditional love and mercy, despite having been a Christian all her life. The conversation was like a microcosm of one of my biggest spiritual struggles: learning to accept forgiveness. "I just don't feel like I deserve to be forgiven," my friend said.

I heard those words echoed in my own mind and heart going back years, and suddenly I realized...that was the point. If we deserved forgiveness, we wouldn't need it.

It's a liberating but terrifying truth. For those of us who are achievement-oriented, it goes against our basic instinct to do something to make ourselves worthy of love. We feel like we should never be in need of forgiveness.

But we're all just people in the end, no matter how accomplished or "holy" we think we are. We need most what we deserve least, and God offers it free of charge. That is the Gospel that I love and fear.

0 comments:

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

We Need Most What We Deserve Least

The other day, I had a conversation with a friend who was in a position of needing to ask for forgiveness. She had called for some advice and encouragement, but she was struggling with the idea of unconditional love and mercy, despite having been a Christian all her life. The conversation was like a microcosm of one of my biggest spiritual struggles: learning to accept forgiveness. "I just don't feel like I deserve to be forgiven," my friend said.

I heard those words echoed in my own mind and heart going back years, and suddenly I realized...that was the point. If we deserved forgiveness, we wouldn't need it.

It's a liberating but terrifying truth. For those of us who are achievement-oriented, it goes against our basic instinct to do something to make ourselves worthy of love. We feel like we should never be in need of forgiveness.

But we're all just people in the end, no matter how accomplished or "holy" we think we are. We need most what we deserve least, and God offers it free of charge. That is the Gospel that I love and fear.

0 comments:

 

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