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2008 REASONS TO BE THANKFUL
WHEN YOU LOOK INTO THE MIRROR...
What do you see?
Many people do not have very healthy self-images and that is understandable. We are fully aware of our many failings and shortcomings. No one knows them better than we do ourselves! And some-times our opinions of ourselves are severely warped resulting from damage caused by past expe-riences, grief, and shame in our lives that may even not be of our own doing.
So, more often than not, we do not believe that we deserve to be loved, or cherished, or respected, or even liked by others, especially by Almighty God! We may feel that we do not deserve salvation, are too sinful to be saved, or to be called righteous and that we do not deserve to even have a glimpse of the portals of heaven!
Why should God love me, when there are many more deserving people who have proved their love for Him ... people who have not only lived blameless lives before Him, but who have sacrificed their lives for Him and who have died for His cause and Kingdom?
Some years ago, I was privileged to know a Zulu lady who, when I first met her, made no great impression except for the very soft expression on her face ... just another big, humble, quietly spoken mama. She died unexpectedly and when I travelled to her three-bedroom, brick under tile home, in Umlazi Township, Kwa-Zulu Natal, to sympathise with her family I was totally amazed at the scene that met my eyes. There were hardly any furniture in the house, yet in the backyard she had erected a brick under tile church building, fitted with pews, pulpit, a keyboard, a sound system and a kombi to bring the elderly to church. She hired and paid for a pastor to minister the Word every Sunday and during the week she, a nursing sister by profession, would lead the prayer meetings herself when her nursing shifts allowed, also attended evening classes, studying towards a Diploma in Theology, in order to become an ordained minister of the Word of God.
When I first saw and understood the sacrifices this family had made because of their love for the Lord, I cried before the Lord, asking what my efforts for His Kingdom amounted to in comparison? Why would God even consider using me in any way whatsoever?
Yesterday I received the following by e-mail:
“The next time you feel like God can't use you just remember ...
Noah was a drunk
Abraham was too old
Isaac was a daydreamer
Jacob was a liar
Leah was ugly
Joseph was abused
Moses had a stuttering problem
Gideon was afraid
Samson had long hair and was a womanizer
Rahab was a prostitute
Jeremiah and Timothy were too young
David was an adulterer and a murderer
Elijah was suidical
Isaiah preached naked
Jonah ran from God
Naomi was a widow
Job went bankrupt
Peter denied Christ
The disciples fell asleep while praying
Martha worried about everything
Mary Magdalene was, well you know...
The samaritan woman was divorced, (more than once, and living in sin)
Zaccheus was (a corrupt tax collector and) too short
Paul was too religious
Timothy had an ulcer...
AND
Lazarus was dead!
No more excuses now. God can use you to your full potential. Besides you aren't the message, you are the messenger.” Author unknown
(I added the bits in brackets.) I could not help but smile!
Yes, we are sinful by nature and not deserving of any of God's mercies:
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...” Rom. 3:23
THE GOOD NEWS, HOWEVER, IS THAT
salvation depends not on me, or who I am, or what I have done, but on the the mercy, grace and love of God, and on what Jesus had done:
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Rom. 6:23
and it is for ALL, notwithstanding anything you may have said or done, or not have done:
“For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Rom.10:12,13.
“For God so loved the world (that would include you and me) that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
John 3:16.
"God shows no personal favoritism to no man..."Gal. 2:6
Thank you, Lord God, that no matter how inferior I may feel, or appear to be in the eyes of others, God's love and mercy and salvation includes me. It is up to me, in faith, to accept it as a free gift from Your hand.
Elizabeth Blaauw
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