This is a question that I have had running in the back of my mind for so much of my life and for some reason, today's sermon delivered an answer to it. When you grow up as a Christian, with two parents who are so deep and steadfast in their faith, you start to compare yourself to them and the "super Christians" in your church. It's like a constant competition to be the best Christian because you definitely want to stand out when it comes time to knock on those pearly gates, ya know?
So here we are, living in this sin-filled world, trying to be perfect and good enough for God. But how crazy is that? We are human. We will definitely mess up. We will definitely sin. And what's worse is that I think some of the sins might even start to seem like they're not sins. So you start to over look them and this line of what is good and what is bad starts to shift. We start to justify our sins and think, 'Well at least I'm not sinning as much as THAT person.'
Ew. What?!
But this is what trying to be good enough will get you. You will be in this constant, never-ending cycle that will drive you crazy. So how does a Christian feel secure in their faith and their personal relationship with Christ? You realize that God sent His only Son to die on the cross for us. Jesus did for us what we could never do. He lived a perfect, sin-less life and then died anyway. For you, for me, for us. How incredible, right?
One of the things that resonated with me in the sermon today was when the pastor said that whatever our former life has been, it is gone when we repent and trust in the mercy of our Lord. It's like all of the things that I've done in my life that I may not be so proud of are completely forgiven. And all we have to do is ask for it. That's it.
So instead of striving to be good enough or better than the other Christians in our lives, all God wants us to do is seek repentance. It's such a relief. It makes me so thankful that we serve this God who would just offer mercy and grace.
So there it is. There is no good enough; that doesn't exist. All that we have is forgiveness. Boom.
