Searching His Word Saturday- God's Love Lifts Us

Inspired some from

His Love for Me is Intensely Personal, Ruth Myers, Day 5 of 31 Days of Drawing Near to God

There is something I have a very very difficult time with when it comes to Christianity- and perhaps it is specifically Baptist Christians?- and that is the mindset that we are lower than dirt because we are sinners. How can we live with the constant contradictory commentary of pastors and preachers that tell us that we worthless in God's eyes, that we are a sinner and therefore so low we've no right to even raise our eyes? (When I say those words, I am not quoting any one person in particular- it is my own rendition of what I hear) Yet in the next moment or sentence they are telling us that God loves us so much that Jesus died a horridly painful death to save us from our sin. 

To say that we are 'washed in the blood of the Lamb' means that we are clean now. God does not see our sin; He only sees the cleansed us because of Jesus' death and sacrifice. If this is truly the case, how can we still see ourselves as so low to compare ourselves with -for lack of a better comparison- dirt? Personally, I think it is a way to keep us humble. I am not proposing lifting ourselves up to be great because there is none greater than God- none. We are His creation, we can only be 'lifted' so far anyway.

Myers, in Day 5 of her book, gives a few scriptures to ponder:

• Psalm 17:6-7
• Isaiah 57:15
• Lamentations 3:22-23
• John 3:16
• Galatians 2:20

Two of those five verses that catch me the most this morning are Lamentations 3:22-23 and John 3:16. I read more than just those she suggested because I felt that there was more to them than just the one or two. I've also boldfaced the words that had particular force on me this morning.

Lamentations 3:21-26

"This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD."

John 3:16-17

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."

This for me shows that I am worth more than dirt to God. I am not so low that I must be ashamed to lift my eyes to God. 

I am a sinner. I am not worthy of salvation. I do know this but because of what He has done for me I am saved.

Of course, these are simply my thoughts on the matter. I realized the need for a Savior and I accepted Jesus as my Savior...God gave that to me. What good does it do for me to continue to act like I am not saved by lowering myself to where I was before in God's eyes? Should I not rejoice that I am now clean and elevated from the dirt? Rejoice that God has done this for me and to me- not myself and through none of my own actions. God gets all the glory.

But I am not not dirt. God loves me and that lifts me up.

I would like to direct my readers to a blog that has some good posts, some reflecting on God's Word. Mom of Many Trades has posts under the label "God Time" that I've been enjoying (along with the rest of her blogging- it's transparent and refreshing at the same time!). Relevant to today's Searching His Word Saturday, I think, is the post entitled "He Forgets".