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Who Am I To Argue?

Here's some news: human beings are sinners. Sometimes, heinous evil on a large scale is in evidence. We know this. On the one hand, we cannot overstate the human capacity to do the wrong things. On the other hand, if Jesus loves me enough to give His life for me on the Cross, I don't have the right to say that I am worthless, unlovable, et cetera. That would be a lie. I'm valuable enough that the most beloved Son of the Father shed His blood to redeem me, and would have done it if I were the only one.

Before we move on to the warm feelings and affections that meditating on this reality almost always provokes, we need to realize that anything in me that denies this, insofar as I indulge it, is a sin against the truth.

Any honest accounting of our sins is the acknowledgement of our failure, our great distance from His perfection, but that perfection is not a standard as such; it is God's very existence, His communion. He wants us to be with Him. If I don't want me to be with Him, I need to prayerfully find out why.

(If you need to start by abandoning any idea that Christ didn't die for all people, do that.)

Most of us just get tripped up by an apparent good out of weakness. Still, walking around talking about how wretched you are is a bit like campaigning for the Humility Award. 

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