Worth It?

Hey guys.  So, uh, I haven't posted anything in quite a while.  And now that I'm back, expect to see less track related stuff (although there will be a steady stream of it), and something more spiritually flavored.  But, you know me, I can't be constantly serious.  So, they'll still be a taste of my quirky sense of humor infused into whatever I write about.

So, we'll get serious to start things off.  Do you ever feel like you're not good enough?  Yeah, I feel that way sometimes, too.  You are, though.  Unless your ambition is to play in the NFL.  Then, you're probably not.  Sorry.  But, if your ambition is to be the man or woman that Christ intends you to be, then, yeah.  You're equipped.  Some of you are reading this and thinking, "Yeah, yeah, I know.  You're the umpteenth person to tell me.  I get the point."  No, you don't.

You royally blew it, didn't you?  I won't go into what you did.  You know what it was.  And you also know that in the midst of your guilt, you were discouraged.  You thought for that split second that it was true, that you weren't good enough, that no one who messes up this badly could ever lead others, whether IN Christ (as a small group leader, etc.) or TO Christ.  Yeah, see... that's what Satan wants you to believe.  He wants you to have the, "What's the point, I'll never stack up" attitude.  Because with that attitude, you don't strive for the things Christ intends for you to strive for.  Let's face it, a lot of those things are daunting.  1 Peter 1:15-16 calls us to be holy, just as Christ is holy.  Being Christlike isn't easy in a world full of blinkerless drivers and unkempt women with five screaming children at Walmart.  It isn't even always possible, given the sinful nature buried deep within our humanity.  But that's no reason to not try.

If you're still not convinced, look at Paul.  This is a man who persecuted the church.  Now, all sins are equally forgiven through God's grace (save for never acknowledging Christ for who He is, but that's a given), so what he did no more affects his standing with God than a little white lie.  But, through a human, subjective point of view, killing off Christians is probably worse than the majority of things that we have done.  Yet, we still commit sins and wonder how in the world God could ever use someone who has done what we just did.  For crying out loud, by God's grace, Paul was considered among the Apostles (read I Corinthians 15 for reference).  If he could be "good enough" to be among the Apostles even after persecuting the church, why can't you be "good enough" to step up and fill the role God has called you to?  Don't worry about "fixing" yourself first.  Remember Romans 5:8:  "...but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  We were "good enough" to die for then, we're "good enough" now.