I’m going to say some things today that probably go against much of what you’ve been taught about the Christian life. So I’m also going to quite a lot of scripture today. We’ll start here: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21). And one more, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” (Romans 10:4)
From these verses – as well as others – we know that we are righteous under the blood of Christ. We have become righteous before God. Righteousness – right standing with God – can look like various things, including being allowed to come near God (Ephesians 2:13), living by faith (Galatians 3:11), having our physical needs met (Matthew 6:33), and going to heaven to be with God when we die (Philippians 3:9-11). It can also look like deserving all that God is (as in, all that is in His nature and all He owns) because you are now in right standing with God. Being righteous because of Christ’s sacrifice means that we now deserve – yes, I said deserve – the goodness of God and all of His blessings, simply because we have right standing with God again.
If you need a proof text, here’s a good one: “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3)
Most of us believe that we do not deserve “every spiritual blessing” for two reasons. First, we know the evil thoughts and desires that pass through our minds and that are in our hearts (James 4:1). Combined with the feelings that we have failed ourselves and God, we can’t figure out why or even how we could deserve the good things that God has given us. Second, we run away from thoughts that we “deserve” things because we have seen the abuse of these “deserving” tendencies (which often manifest in selfish and greedy people). The problem isn’t in the “deserving;” the issues arise when we see what we deserve and demand that we get it.
Let me give you a quick example. If I make a cake, and I follow all of the directions, I deserve to have my cake turn out well. (It’s called sowing and reaping; I sowed good seed and deserve to reap a tasty result.) But let’s say that my cake doesn’t rise, burns in the oven, and tastes terrible. I still deserve a better outcome. If I demand that better outcome, it’s a sign of my own self-focused desires and immaturity, not an indication that I didn’t deserve a good cake. In the same way, self-focused, self-righteous people look at what they deserve, and if they don’t get it for whatever reason, they throw fits or manipulate or do whatever it takes to get what they know they deserve.
It sounds so spiritual to deny that we deserve the goodness of God in our lives. And the people who believe and teach this do have a point – without Christ, we can’t even come close to it, let alone deserve it. But unless I can step over the line from “I don’t deserve” to “I have all the rights and responsibilities of a daughter (or son),” I will never be able to fully appreciate or experience either God’s power or His love for me.
Somehow, we have to grow into the maturity that can recognize what we deserve through Christ and His sacrifice on the cross while not using that to further our own selfish desires (James 4:3). Those who know who they are and Whose they are can step into this – because their identity isn’t in the deserving or in grabbing what is theirs. Instead, they can willingly lay down what they deserve only to pick it back up again (just like Jesus in John 10:18) as they walk in close relationship with God.
