“You are worthy,” the pastor told his congregation. “Christ wouldn’t have died for you if you weren’t worthy.”
This is a common misunderstanding.
Instead, we must understand: "God does not love us because we are valuable. We are valuable because God loves us." Fulton John Sheen
“No one understands, no one seeks for God…." Romans 3:11
"They have together become worthless…." Romans 3:12
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Romans 3:23-24
"Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No….” Romans 3:27
It's important to remember that we are thoroughly unworthy of Christ’s sacrifice.
We desperately need to understand how great Christ's grace is...how undeserved...how miraculous...how sweet...how awesome...how wildly extravagant (Romans 12:1; 1 Corinthians 6:20).
"You are worthy, O Lord,” and we are not, but You love us and have made us valuable (Revelation 4:11).
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Read the complete passage in Romans 3: Romans 3:11-27
Bible Love Notes
Hi Gail - great reminder that is Christ in us that makes us worthy
ReplyDeleteGod bless
Tracy
Amen! All of our righteousness is as a filthy rag. I'm so grateful to be clothed in His righteousness! May the Lord bless you!
ReplyDeletePaulette
And yet...because of His sacrificial love, my life has great value.
ReplyDeleteMarket value is set by the price someone is willing to pay.
Christ paid for our redemption with His own life-blood...thereby declaring us to be more valuable than His own life.
Hi Joe,
DeleteIt's wonderful to know Christ loves us enough to give His life for us, and I think that is your intent in your comment. But I think it's good to haggle over words a bit so we don't misunderstand.
Market value is not a great analogy for Christ's sacrifice because it is the greatest act of Grace in the universe. And grace means unmerited and undeserved. If we were worthy of Christ's life, it would simply be fair payment, not grace. And Christ's willingness to "pay" for us does increase our value, but it doesn't declare our lives more valuable than His life.
Again, I'm sure you weren't trying to diminish the value of Christ's life with your comment, but sometimes it's important to make detailed distinctions.
Thanks,
Gail
THis is so wonderful.
ReplyDeleteHi Dominic,
ReplyDeleteI agree that we are loved by God, enjoyed by God, and precious to God. Nothing that I've written denies those truths.
But Scripture says we are not worthy of Christ's death, and I'm believing Scripture.
You say we are worthy but not deserving and that's contradictory.
But if you genuinely believe we are worthy of Christ's death, then you are saying He simply paid what He owed to have us in His family. There's no grace involved. We are worth the price he paid.
That's blasphemy.
Jesus said in the Olivet Discourse Matthew 24 to pray to be accounted worthy to escape all these things and to stand before the Son of Man
ReplyDelete