Love Showers

I am fully aware that everyone is not like me.  Most of the time.  There are occasions when I loose sight of that reality and assume that the lense through which I see and feel the world is identical to everyone else's.  This morning I blogged about our common need for humility.  I said that we all need a little humbling now and then. . . the reminder of our need for a Savior, no matter how *good* we think we've been.

But this little thought has been plaguing my mind ever since I wrote that this morning.

Some of you might need a little more encouragement than humbling today. . .

Here is the deal:  I've always been a bit of a goodie-too-shoos.  I was the "good Christian girl" who followed all of the rules.  So for me, as I'm guessing it is for others with similar natures, humility doesn't always come easy.  I have always worked hard to do the right things, and my sinful nature wants to take a little credit for all that hard work. . . Not that it would ever measure up to the standard that God has set.  No goodie-too-shoo alive or dead could ever measure up to the King of the Universe. 

But I try, none the less.

So for me, humility is something to strive for, pray for, and work for.  I need that constant reminder that it is CHRIST in me that is deserving of God's favor and choosing.  It is CHRIST in me that makes me holy, pure and righteous.  It is CHRIST in me that God uses to encourage and lift up the people in my life. 

But what I am reflecting on right now is not me, but you.  Because for you, humility might be coming from a completely different direction.  Maybe you're someone who feels that you have made every mistake in the book.  Maybe you already feel completely unworthy of the love of God.  Maybe other people in the church have made you feel like you'll never measure up.

If that is where you're at today, then I want you to know something:  you are a priceless treasure, loved beyond measure, and accepted without condition.  There is nothing you could ever do to either earn or lose the gift of eternal life you receive in Jesus.  Nothing. 

Humility is recognizing that we are lost, fallen, and dying apart from that live-giving relationship with Christ.  But to recognize who we are IN Christ does not negate that humility.

Today some of us need to trip on a crack in the sidewalk, and others need to feel the mighty arms of our Savior lifting us up. I might need a loving reminder that my works do not make me worthy, and you might need to feel the love of God rain down on you so completely that you are enveloped in His grace and mercy.

Wherever you are at, know that the ground is level at the foot of the cross.  I am right there with you, maybe heading in from a different direction, but arriving at the same place nonetheless.

May we all see ourselves as God sees us, and find our security, identity and confidence in that.