By the grace of God-
— I am not who I was- Eph. 2:8
— I am what I am- 1 Cor. 15:10
— I do what I do- Eph. 3:7
— I have what I’ve got- Ja. 1:17
— I am able to keep going- 2 Cor. 12:9
Repeatedly I have to remind myself that I don’t deserve anything. I would like to think that I’m not so proud as to believe I am deserving of anything, especially a trouble free life, but all the evidence is against me. I suspect it’s the same with you. After all, we just naturally want to put ourselves in the best possible light. And since none of us enjoy suffering we look for a way to escape it, excuse it, or explain the reason away. We want things to be better, and tend to believe they should be better. — a proof of pride.
The first problem with believing we deserve better is it is a denial of the facts. We are deceived. Both the Bible and our behavior proves we are sinful and undeserving of God’s goodness. Anyone who understands grace knows that is true. None of us are earning our way with God. Were it not for grace we would all be in hell.
But there is another problem associated with believing we are deserving of a better life. Those who entertain such a notion are never satisfied, because there are always problems to contend with and they don’t like it. Difficulties come and we get disappointed because things don’t go our way. Then we get bitter when things don’t get better. We feel that life, God, or someone is being unfair with us. Even when we have more or better than the vast majority of people in the world we still aren’t happy. Our proud, sinful, selfish nature is convinced that things should go as we please. Not until we come to see the truth about ourselves do we begin to understand the greatness of God’s grace. It is indeed amazing! Then, grateful for grace, we are content with such as we have – as the Bible commands us to be. “Grace be with you all. Amen.” ( Heb. 13:25) –HDS
David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346
