Truthful Tuesday
On my daily commute, I was listening to a podcast my husband sent to me (if you’re interested in listening to it too, send me a message), and an idea presented in the conversation struck me to the core. Essentially, it was this lie that Christians have believed that we are morally superior to everyone else. I sat with this idea for a minute, thinking: well, aren’t we supposed to be? Then, the truth came to me. If we are morally superior, why would we need Christ?
The more I pondered this thought, the more I realized the problem with perfectionism (a problem that I struggle with daily). Though I am called to live a holy life, this does not mean I am called to be self-righteous. I mean, let’s be real, Jesus was vehemently against self-righteous leaders. Being holy means I am set apart, but set apart from what? The more I thought about this, the more I realized it meant set apart from that which separates me from Christ, my own personal sin.
One of my favorite verses in the Bible is found in 1 Timothy 1:15 (NLT): “This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners’—and I am the worst of them all.”
Paul says here that he was the worst sinner of all. That is an all-consuming and powerful statement. The worst of them all? Why would he say that? Didn’t he write most of the New Testament? I think Paul was saying that he is capable of great sin as well as great goodness. He hunted Christians before Christ met him on the road to Damascus. He essentially watched the cloaks of the people who stoned Stephen to death. Was this evil? Of course, it was. Paul recognizes in this verse that apart from Christ, he is nothing but a sinner capable of extreme evil, and if I am honest, so am I.
We all have goodness in us, but we are all also capable of evil. We choose how we respond each day. In the end, it is our choice to recognize that we are capable of evil that may very well have us turn to Christ and say, “I know I am a sinner, and I need you to help me.”
That’s the point of The Gospel. If you are a Christian, understand that it is not our goodness that saves us, or our desires to live perfectly; it is understanding that, regardless of how good we attempt to be, apart from Christ, none of those deeds matter. Apart from Christ, nothing matters. I am not saying that we should live our lives absent-mindedly, but instead that we should recognize our greatest flaws. See that we need Christ today just as much as we did the first day we accepted Him as our Lord; for me, I need Him more.
We cannot earn our way into God’s good graces. Striving for perfection is fleeting, seeking moral superiority is fleeting, and chasing after self-righteousness is fleeting. Instead, we should realize the truth: Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14: 16).
It’s all about Christ, friends.
