How often have these words crossed your mind or even slipped out of your mouth?
When someone else got the job promotion you worked so hard to get.
When you failed a class despite working your tail off to understand the material.
When you make all the “right” decisions to have this happen to you.
Sometimes it feels like we are in a losing battle.
Why not drink your college years away?
Why not splurge on lavish items if one unforeseeable bill could wipe us out?
Why not make horrible choices in every area of life if bad things can still happen?
Recently I began a new devotional/journal written by my friend Amy called The Good Life. Every other day I choose an I am statement which conveniently has several adjectives listed in the front to help you get started. I chose “deserving” because I can often discredit myself and feel like I don’t deserve any accolades.
So I began to write down the things I felt I “deserved” like health, happiness, joy, contentment, and my basic needs met. But then my stomach began to churn, I was convicted. Who am I to believe I “deserve” anything?
I began to question where does this idea come from? Is it “American thinking” the whole “work hard = success” or is it Biblical to believe we deserve success for hard work?
“Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’ ”
Luke 17:7-10 NIV
Confusing? Hits different? We must remember the context of this time period. Take a look at the message version
“Suppose one of you has a servant who comes in from plowing the field or tending the sheep. Would you take his coat, set the table, and say, ‘Sit down and eat’? Wouldn’t you be more likely to say, ‘Prepare dinner; change your clothes and wait table for me until I’ve finished my coffee; then go to the kitchen and have your supper’? Does the servant get special thanks for doing what’s expected of him? It’s the same with you. When you’ve done everything expected of you, be matter-of-fact and say, ‘The work is done. What we were told to do, we did.’”
Luke 17:7-10 MSG
Do you believe you should get recognized and rewarded for doing what is expected of you?
The American culture wants you to believe “yes.”
Show up to the baseball field, pick the dandelions, and you should get a trophy.
Show up to work, do what is asked of you, and you should get a raise.
Show up to work out five days in a row and you should lose 5 lbs. (yeah that one stings)
Then the “flipside.” What do we “deserve” when we make the wrong choices?
Show up to work late and hungover.
Show up an hour past curfew and high as a kite.
Show up to the gym, but then eat a Bojangles biscuit after.
What about the woman who was caught committing adultery in John 8 that I spoke about in Cancel Culture? Does she deserve to be stoned to death for her acts? No, she is given mercy and grace because of Jesus.
What about the woman at the well in John 4? She shows up to the well to retrieve water in the middle of the day when everyone else goes at dawn or dusk. She arrives in the heat of the day to avoid the crowd, but also the looks and the whispers. She has not made wise choices. She probably feels the smoldering heat is what she deserves. But Jesus shows her who He really is. He shows her grace and mercy by revealing to her the living water.
What did the women actually deserve? In our society we certainly would have at the very least “canceled” them, treating them as a leper to civilization. But not Jesus. Instead they both received mercy and grace.
On Pinterest I saw a quote that said: Grace is getting something you don’t deserve and mercy is when you are spared for the things you do deserve.
All God asks from us is to show up and do what is asked of us. Will we make mistakes? Of course. Can we choose to do better? Absolutely.
He doesn’t demand that we die for our sins, He already has.
Romans 5:6-8 NIV
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
So when you feel the urge to say “I don’t deserve this!” remember you are right, you deserve much worse, but God already took care of it for you. Just keep showing up.
