“We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong." Luke 23:41
Growing up I was, and still am, completely in love with my group of friends. There is not one of them that takes God’s blessings for granted. No one in our group tries to live life without God in the center. There are times when we build up one friend, while other times we are the one being built up. We keep a daily group text going on, and prayers are lifted and petitioned within those texts. There have been texts of heartbreak and celebrations, along with the silliness of a group of girls who really never grew up at heart. But when I was a young teen along with that treasure trove of friends, came the wrestling of emotions, the jockeying of position, and the feelings of inadequacy…the ongoing drum beat of not feeling good enough. I remember meeting my group of friends for dinner at Thanksgiving when I was around 49 years of age. As I looked around the table, that little 14-year-old girl slipped into my seat filling my mind with all kinds of old falsehoods… ‘you are not funny enough…not smart enough…not liked enough…not anything enough.’ A few years later one of my friends met me for lunch, and we began reminiscing about that dinner. It turns out that her little 14-year-old girl slipped into her seat also, lying to her about her ‘not good enough’ dilemma.
There was another person who felt the sting of not being good enough. His realization came a little late…instead of dinner with friends it was a crucifixion with criminals. But as he hung there mocking one of the crucified he suddenly heard this stranger praying for him. He heard the whispers of a man who had never met him. He heard the labored breathing of a stranger praying for God to forgive him. And then, that must have been when it all made since. He suddenly measured himself against Jesus, instead of the other criminal. In that brief exchange he clearly saw himself hanging on the cross of not only ‘not-good-enough’ but ‘never will be.’ But Jesus met his eyes and gave him a promise of eternity. That was the point then and it is the point now…because Jesus was great enough for all, being good enough will never be a requirement to get into heaven.
What we learn from this is that not being good enough is part of the plan. If we were good enough to receive grace and the gift of eternity, like the criminal on the cross we would never look over to Jesus. We would never admit that we lack what it takes to be ushered into our new home and walk out life with God and our loved ones. It is that humble realization that because we are not good enough we must look to Him for our completion and to provide what we lack.
I don’t know about you, but I am glad that being good enough is not a prerequisite for my future. We must look to the standard of Jesus to determine our value and our worth. Otherwise, we will be measuring ourselves against the other criminal hanging on the cross. When we finally get to the point where we see Jesus as our portion to fill in the gaps of our humanity we too will experience paradise.
“And Jesus replied, "I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise." Luke 23:43
No comments:
Post a Comment