There is good news for those who are weary. Weary of the endless cycle of sin and despair and unreachable righteousness. Really, there is.
You don’t need to measure up.
Too many of us live in perpetual spiritual despair or, at best, inconsistent highs and lows. People speak of holiness and we react in numerous ways: anger, worry, hopelessness, defensiveness. Why is that? Why does the very idea of holiness make us feel so many different emotions?
Because most of us know that ‘holiness’ is an elusive goal post that seems to constantly shift. We feel, when we’re honest, that we’re just never good enough and never strong enough. When we decide we’re going to do something about it – that we’re going to deal with sins and problems in our life – we find ourselves hitting an even bigger brick wall.
Is this how God intended life to be? I mean: is this it?
Perhaps you’re one of those people. For most of my adult life I’ve lived in anguish and discouragement over this subject. Neither the answers of “try harder” or the answers of “let go and let God” seem to produce any lasting fruit. And the very popular post-modern answer of, “Well, you were just born this way,” is simply cruel and nihilistic (and we never seem to think that way about other disabilities). Again and again those old sins, those wicked habits, those lusts, those egotistical ambitions, those old desires, flare up – like a squatter you thought was gone but found out was living in a different room all this time! How did they get in? Where did they come from? Why won’t they just leave? You can never quite figure out what happened.
Many say that that’s just the way it is. You have to live in a perpetual war inside all your life between what is good and what is evil. You are always going to feel as if you’re two people until the day you die.
But is this true?
We have many solutions to our sin and righteousness problems. The problem with all our solutions, though, is there comes a time when we fail to do them. And then we know the all-too familiar voice: “You’re just not good enough.”
I reached a place in my life when I realised that it’s not that I’m just not good enough. It’s these things – these solutions that we have – that just aren’t good enough. And so I had to re-align my trust in what is good enough to actually sort out my sin for good.
Because there is a promise.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
– Jesus (Matthew 5:6).
It’s those who are weary and broken who are poised to receive the promises of God: the kingdom of heaven itself. It’s for those who are hungry and thirsty and weak. Not the winners and the strong and those who can take everything “by the horns” and wrestle it to the ground.
Are you poor in spirit today? You’re actually in the right place.
You don’t need to measure up.
Too many of us live in perpetual spiritual despair or, at best, inconsistent highs and lows. People speak of holiness and we react in numerous ways: anger, worry, hopelessness, defensiveness. Why is that? Why does the very idea of holiness make us feel so many different emotions?
Because most of us know that ‘holiness’ is an elusive goal post that seems to constantly shift. We feel, when we’re honest, that we’re just never good enough and never strong enough. When we decide we’re going to do something about it – that we’re going to deal with sins and problems in our life – we find ourselves hitting an even bigger brick wall.
Is this how God intended life to be? I mean: is this it?
Perhaps you’re one of those people. For most of my adult life I’ve lived in anguish and discouragement over this subject. Neither the answers of “try harder” or the answers of “let go and let God” seem to produce any lasting fruit. And the very popular post-modern answer of, “Well, you were just born this way,” is simply cruel and nihilistic (and we never seem to think that way about other disabilities). Again and again those old sins, those wicked habits, those lusts, those egotistical ambitions, those old desires, flare up – like a squatter you thought was gone but found out was living in a different room all this time! How did they get in? Where did they come from? Why won’t they just leave? You can never quite figure out what happened.
Many say that that’s just the way it is. You have to live in a perpetual war inside all your life between what is good and what is evil. You are always going to feel as if you’re two people until the day you die.
But is this true?
We have many solutions to our sin and righteousness problems. The problem with all our solutions, though, is there comes a time when we fail to do them. And then we know the all-too familiar voice: “You’re just not good enough.”
I reached a place in my life when I realised that it’s not that I’m just not good enough. It’s these things – these solutions that we have – that just aren’t good enough. And so I had to re-align my trust in what is good enough to actually sort out my sin for good.
Because there is a promise.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
– Jesus (Matthew 5:6).
It’s those who are weary and broken who are poised to receive the promises of God: the kingdom of heaven itself. It’s for those who are hungry and thirsty and weak. Not the winners and the strong and those who can take everything “by the horns” and wrestle it to the ground.
Are you poor in spirit today? You’re actually in the right place.
