Selection from Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life

AngelAmidala

Legend
Feb 1, 2002
30,137
642
47
New York
Visit site
✟51,421.00
Faith
Methodist
Marital Status
Single
From: Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life
By: Charles Swindoll

Ever get a song on your mind?...It happened to me last week...I found myself listening to what Watts wrote over two centuries ago:

Alas! and did my Savior bleed?

And did my Sovereign die?

Would he devote that sacred head

For such a worm as I?

I frowned as that last line faded away. "A worm?" Does God see people as "worms"? When Christ died did He "devote that sacred head" for worms? Now, obviously, Watts wanted to portray a vivid illustration of sinful mankind - lost, undeserving, spiritually worthless, wicked within. Dipping his brush in Job 25 and Isaiah 41, the hymnist painted such a picture, using the very term Scripture uses - worm. He was biblical and therefore justified his choice of terms for the text. Frankly, we were worm-like when our righteous God found us - lowly, wandering, dirty, unattractive, grubby creatures.

But that doesn't mean we work hard at making ourselves into worms now. A child of God is not a worm. If God had wanted you to be a worm, He could have very easily made you one!...When Watts wrote of worms he was merely using a word picture. Many others, however, have framed it as a model to follow, calling it humility. This "worm theology" creates enormous problems.

It wears many faces - all sad. It crawls out from between the mattress and springs in the morning, telling itself, "I'm nothing. I'm a worm. Woe, woe. I can't do anything and even if I appear to be doing something, it's not really
me. Woe! I must annihilate self-respect...crucify all motivation and ambition...I'm a worm. Good for nothing except crawling very slowly, drowning in mud puddles, or getting stepped on. Woe, woe, woe."

There's one main problem with this sort of thinking - it's phony. No matter how diligently we labor to appear genuinely humble, it amounts to nothing more than trying to look good in another way...

And therin lies the ugly sin: PRIDE.

Heretical though it may sound, no one who actually hates himself can adequately share the love of Christ. Our Lord taught that we were to love our neighbors as we love ourselves...

Have you taken the time this week to consider before your Lord who you really are?

Sinful? Oh yes. Undeserving? Absolutely. Imperfect? Who isn't. Selfish? Indeed! Wrong? More often than not.

But a worm? Useless? Unimportant? Spineless? Meaningless? No, not that. God declared us righteous. He lifted us out of miry clay and set us upon a rock. He invites us to approach him with boldness. And he means it!
 

AngelAmidala

Legend
Feb 1, 2002
30,137
642
47
New York
Visit site
✟51,421.00
Faith
Methodist
Marital Status
Single
Actually, I don't really know. (is there a sheepish grin on this thing?)

I have The Inspirational Study Bible edited by Max Lucado...and that's where I get the devotionals from. Most of the pages have a little bit of something from a variety of authors. I do have to say though, out of all the authors in the book, Charles Swindoll is one of my favorites.
 
Upvote 0