The Human Condition of “Undeservedness”

“YOU DON’T DESERVE SPIT! — Unless you can pay for it.”  Dave Ramsey says in one of his teaching sessions of Financial Peace University.  This quote would have came right at a time when any one of us may say, “I deserve a newer model car.”  Or “I’ve lived in a mobile home all my life, I deserve a custom built house.”  Or maybe even, ”I deserve to feed the kids happy meals because they won’t shut up, and I don’t have an ounce of strength to open a can of spaghetti-Os or make a PB&J.  The premise is, if you can’t pay for it, you don’t deserve it, no matter how bad a day or life you’ve had.

I’ve been dealing with this idea the past couple of weeks…swallowing it is more like it.  In today’s cause and effect societry we assume God is that way too. 

It’s how we grew up isn’t it?  The parents tell us to be quiet and behave and we do, so we don’t get yelled at or punished.  Well, how many of us work and get paid?  We are so used to “deserving” the things that we get, good or bad, most of the time we absolutely will not be denied.  Yet over the past couple of weeks I’m reminded that God’s ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. 

Karen and I have been looking for a rent house, deciding we may be able to save more money living closer to my place of employment than paying for gas driving back and forth.  Yet our search has turned up empty, and my frustrations have been made manifest a couple of times because I’m ready to leave the place we’re in.  Honestly, all the places for rent we wouldn’t be able to come close to renting on a month to month basis without sacrificing some major “debt snowball.”  I’ll admit I’ve prayed (or whined), wondering why the Lord doesn’t just lead us straight to the house right away so we can start saving MORE money immediately.  But you’d be surprised at the thoughts I’ve had, ”Lord, my family and I love you, we try to worship you in all we do, don’t we deserve more than what we have?  When will you bless, Lord?  Won’t you please help?”  It wasn’t until later that I thought of Dave Ramsey and realized that none of us “deserve” anything unless we can pay for it do we?  

The bible clearly states the ”wages of sin” is death.  That’s what we all deserve when it comes right down to it – death and Hell.  But we would never be promised a chance at a loving relationship with God had it not been for Jesus Christ who ”paid for” our sins.  Only does belief in Him, His sacrifice, and His ressurection and repentence of our sin allow us to be redeemed to God.  Blood bought and “paid for.”  It’s something we can never buy ourselves, but it’s a gift, all salvation requires is our belief. 

This redemption is not automatic though, just as I don’t “deserve” an affordable rent house just because I’m sucking wind-we don’t automatically deserve Heaven just because we repeat a little prayer after Jesus Christ died.  There must be a recognition of what we, being human and sinful, deserve (Hell); and repenting of what got us there, our willful sin!  This is a truth that is left out of so many churches today.  Too often we see Jesus Christ death on the cross for us as something we have earned just because we’re alive and breathing and God would never send us to Hell.  Unfortunately most of us think more of ourselves and what we think we deserve never allows us to come to this point.  In the end, we are undeserving of God’s grace, but He gives it anyway.  Praise God he gives us the choice to be paid for, without giving what we truly deserve.

The Burn of the Words of Christ

They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”   (Luke 24:32).

Have you discovered what these men have as they walked along the road with the risen Jesus Christ?  I love Luke chapter 24; it unveils, not only the resurrection of our Lord, but a mysterious drivenness that Jesus orchestrates in the hearts of men with just a few words.  Few people in this life can cause others to stop and evaluate where they are and turn towards some direction with power and passion.  THIS is what Jesus drew out of these two disciples as he revealed what Moses and the prophets had proclaimed centuries before – PASSION.  DRIVE.  

I love to put myself into the shoes of these men…

They had seen events that they never believed they would, the death of their great teacher and master who they KNOW is dead, but the mystery now remains as to where his body must be.  They know they and their fellowship of disciples had not taken the body.  Nor could it be Judas Iscariot, he was found gruesomely hanging from a tree jutting out over Potters Field.  Peter and John couldn’t have done it, they ran to the grave themselves and discovered only the clothing and the napkin there, and were just as shocked as the women who discovered the empty tomb.  Then there was this “angel” business these women spoke of.  Is Mary hallucinating in her grief?  Could she have seen a ghost?  What do these things mean?

A stranger approaches and inquires what they are talking about, and they fill Him in on all the news of Jerusalem, questioning whether or not he’s been hiding in a cave to not hear of these strange happenings.  And this stranger begins to speak of the things of old, the prophets and Moses!  He intricately and carefully begins to fit the events of their missing Lord’s life into the prophesies of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.  Pieces begin to fall into place like a jigsaw puzzle and their hearts begin to burn.  The prophets spoke not just of deliverance from oppressive governments like the Babylonian or Roman Empires, but spoke of deliverance from sin and death!  Man’s way isn’t God’s Way!  EMMANUEL MEANS “GOD WITH US – JESUS!”  Though this man has such vast knowledge of the scripture, it still has not dawned on them they are walking and talking with their Lord.  But can’t you see the look on their faces as he speaks?  The lights coming on over their heads?  The goosebumps rising on their skin?  And then, as the stranger begins to leave off from them, they invite Him in to their home and as He speaks to the Father, blessing the bread, Jesus Christ their Lord is revealed!  Unfortunately, He disappears as quickly as they recognize Him.  They turn to eachother, knowing the other has never felt so alive, and so full of purpose, their hearts BURN within them!

When was the last time you felt alive?  Full of purpose?  I remember the first time I made a true decision for God, it WASN’T when I was saved, it was a decision based on being sick of myself and who I’d become.  Nothing else had worked for me, but I knew that God had promised in His Word that if I draw near to Him, He would draw near to me.  That if I searched for Him with all my heart, I would find Him.  So I decided to test Him, to truly throw my heart into Him.  And that decision (as far as I knew then) meant attending church and serving faithfully, and also reading His Word.  I would start there….I would believe Him that much…I would draw near to Him (the only way I really knew how then), and Jesus drew near, not revealed immediately, but He was there, and when He was recognized, as my Lord, my Savior, I was set on FIRE and haven’t been the same since.

 

   

The Cost of a Wife’s Freedom Gland – 100 Bucks

For any who have taken the courses from Financial Peace University, or ever listened to “The Dave Ramsey Show,” you have heard Dave speak jokingly of the female’s “security gland.”  Dave states that when this gland tightens, it affects a woman’s face – becoming tight and twisted, showing the unsecurity she feels within.  A couple of weeks ago, I inadvertantly discovered my wife has a freedom gland.  This gland has NOTHING to do with security.

While taking the course last year, I thought surely I would be the “free spirit,” visualizing myself struggling against being held captive by a restrictive budget.  That budget being restrictive down to the zero bottom line was the only way we were ever going to have a better life, for God and for our family.  So I bought into this idea that the little guy could actually do something he dreamed of – with hard work.  I wanted to believe the little guy was NOT limited by his circumstances and he could retire comfortably one day, IF he wanted too.  

My wife followed my lead and our lives began to change, not overnight, but faithfully and steadily.  The more faithful we were, the more debt was paid off.  But we were gazelle intense - we were angry with our debt, we were putting every free dollar we had towards debt, and over time it began to wear.  With each month’s new budget, I could feel her resistance coming on stronger, she was having a hard time digesting that every dollar was going out the door with a purpose, but with little wiggle room.  She was patiently supportive, but I knew something was not right, and I refused to feel as though I was doing this without the love of my life for the next 2 years (the time it would take for us to be out of debt).

We talked and talked and talked some more; we even cried a little bit together.  We came to realize that she didn’t want money just to blow, she wanted to fix some things up around the house.  Money for the house, maybe for some paint, or bath towels, or just a few new shirts for the boys every now and then.  She also realized that I did NOT want to put any more money on major house projects for this place we will not be staying in forever and I would rather use that money toward debt, so we can get a NEW house.  So we agreed, she keeps supporting me in our debt snowball, and I give up $100 of my debt money to do whatever she wants to with. 

It was amazing the difference!  Last week, my wife ran into an old friend who is trying the “Dave Ramsey Diet” and she said she was having difficulty getting started…the budget just seems so tight.  My wife said, “I know what you mean, this is the first month we’ve done our budget and not cried afterwards.  It was a tremendous testimony of her faithfulness to me, and to our plans, and to her friend.  She’s cried to do this and KEEPS ON DOING IT!  Now, she’s freely doing it, with a good, supportive attitude that makes her beauty shine.  The freedom gland I discovered has relaxed, and all I did was give her a little wiggle room.  One hundred dollars…who would have thought.  It will take a little longer to pay off that debt, but it’s worth it to have the FULL support of my wife. 

You nerds who are gazelle intense, even if your spouse is supportive, don’t take advantage of it.  Let your actions speak louder than words.