“I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.”
Well, isn’t that the truth? Because woe is unto the person who thinks he is bringing any goodness at all to God! No matter how good we think we are or not, it is God who is good and remains good. We, on the other hand, have our moments through the course of our lifetimes. And even those shining moments that may seem stellar to us from our human perspective are what the prophet Isaiah calls “filthy rags.” But the good news is that no matter what, we are covered under the umbrella of the saving grace of God for those who believe in the redemptive work accomplished by God incarnate on the cross. May it be that Paul’s words speak to us today, and may we rest in the knowledge that all our many failings have already been forgiven.
