February 14, 2018

Have you ever been reading along in your Bible, and you start to feel kinda good about yourself?

You know, all this talk about the righteous and the wicked, us verses them?

And then, you read something about the wicked, and you think, “Wait a minute, what?”

Yesterday, going through the 5th chapter of Proverbs, I came across this little piece:

“An evil man is held captive by his own sins;

They are ropes that catch and hold him.

He will die for lack of self-control ;

He will be lost for his great foolishness.” NLT

Ouch!?

I thought we were fighting this big war against some huge enemy.

Now you tell me that I am holding myself captive?

But, when I start to think of all the things I have thought I SHOULD do,

and of all the reasons I didn’t do them,

I begin to realize that it is my own nature that makes me wicked.

Really, I do an incredible amount of stuff to keep myself happy,

To make my life easy.

ME, ME, ME….

WHAT CHANCE DO I HAVE IF I CAN’T STOP THIS DRIVE THAT IS IN ME?

Grace.

That’s right, that supernatural gift from God that gives me abilities that I do not possess in myself.

That’s right. No one had to teach me how to lie, steal, manipulate , or feel proud of myself. It just came naturally.

Even self-loathing was a form of selfish pride.

But God, in His great love for me, poured out this grace, this favor I didn’t deserve, and considered me “good.”

Not because I was.

Because I wasn’t.

But because I suddenly realized that I wasn’t.

I accepted His payment for my wicked ways.

I could never be good enough.

Now I knew it.

He sees me differently now.

Not the natural me.

Still wicked, but, hopefully getting smaller, weaker.

The other me.

The new one.

The one that fights the old one over everything.

The one that loves Him more than he loves himself.

That one looks like Jesus to Him.