What a huge lie that so many of us, including myself, fall for! I am not trying to call people out, I really am reflecting this on myself. Saying that I really am a good person is just a rationalization to try and justify my sins. And one day, I will stand before the Lord and all of those rationalizations will be stripped away and I will have to face who I really am, just like you will. By the nature of the fall, we are all born evil, wicked people. If we weren't - we wouldn't need a Savior. No matter how good of a person I try to be, the truth is that my heart is wicked.
Jeremiah 17:9-10 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds." My need for my Savior is great. Anyone who is not in a relationship with Christ Jesus should be scared for their life!
Matthew 10:28 "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell". Fear the Lord people! We all need his saving grace,
Romans 3:23 "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"
My need for my Savior is being revealed to me more and more each day. There are so many things that run so deep in me. There are so many things that I cling to make me ok. Just to name a few... my self-reliance, controlling tendencies, pride, arrogance, my husband, just plain old thinking that I'm a good person - I can do this! I, mine, myself, me, me and more me! God has been having me on a slow journey of literally ripping out all of these idols. But it's so hard because
I want to accomplish them, instead of surrendering to letting God accomplish them in me.
Romans 7:18-19 "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not to the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing." I'm not just talking about the big, blatant, obvious to the world sins. I'm talking about what I like to think of as small ones. All of the ones I listed above point to my rebellion against God. My disbelief, my unwillingness to trust Him, my characterizations of who He is verses who I am! He is the potter; I am merely the clay. Because God is merciful, He is revealing to me how deeply ingrained my sinful nature really is. How deceitful my heart really is. And I keep trying to fix it, instead of sitting in His grace and letting Him change me.
So shouldn't I be depressed? Curled up in ball thinking there is no hope? NO! That is the reason why Jesus came for me, and for you! I am a saint and child of God which means all of those sins are covered in His blood! HE is righteous!
Romans 3:24-26 "...through the redemption that is Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he has passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." You have to believe in God and you have to repent and turn from your sins if you ever want to change. I have to surrender everything to Him. I rejoice in His free gift that saves my soul from being cast into hell! I rejoice that He has mercy on me and continues to grow me in so many ways, even though they are so painful! Those blind to who God is, they don't get it. Their hearts are hard, their minds are closed and their eyes are shut. I pray desperately for God to have mercy on them by revealing who He is to them! I am not a good person, and honestly, neither are you. We all need Jesus our only Savior. I have him. Do you?
