Sin is a loaded word. For those outside the faith, it’s a funny and dated religious term. For Christians, we repeat it so often that it loses its bite. Scripture reveals that sin is worse than we know. Jesus is so serious about it that he says, “If your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out.” What is it about sin that’s so fatal it would require Jesus to go to the cross?
This Lent we do a soul examination, studying all the ways God describes the complex of sin. Lawlessness, adultery, rebellion . . . The cancerous nature of sin means that we need to go deeper than surface confession. The problem is worse than we know, which makes our Savior greater than we can imagine.
Invocation
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, who delivers us from all evil.
Invitation Prayer
Lord Jesus, you suffered evil at the hands of the religious establishment. Priests accused you of blasphemy. In their trial against you, they called the Good Shepherd evil. Forgive your people when we call evil good and good evil. We are sheep easily led astray. Renew us to be your people, clean and holy. Amen.
Word
Matthew 25:42-43
“For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.”
Meditation: Good Enough by Pastor Nathan Schultz
“When they have kids, they will be back.” It was a hopeful statement from a pastor who watched the youth he cared for so deeply run far and away from his care.
Kids can refocus a parent to what truly matters. I’d imagine being a parent could also make you feel helpless and overwhelmed, aching to return to some kind of comfort. It could be a religious community, somewhere with people who tell you it is going to be alright.
A pastor friend told me his introduction to church was rather odd. His parents would drop him off at Sunday school for some type of religious education. They would go out for breakfast only to return to pick him up in about an hour.
Later in life, he learned his parents handed him over for an hour of religious instruction with the hope he might gain some kind of moral compass. Their expectation of the church was that he would, at the minimum, be told the golden rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” I suppose keeping this rule was a measure of becoming a good person.
Being a good person is what they desired most for their child. I’m sure they had good intentions.
The trouble is that as life wears on, and if we are truly honest with ourselves, we no longer ask, “am I a good person?” The question changes to, “Am I good enough?”
Am I a good enough…
Student?
parent?
Spouse?
coworker?
employee?
caretaker?
Measure good however you want, but “good enough” is a haunting phrase.
So what might you do when you come to grips with the truth you are not “good enough”?
I’ve seen some practice mantras to convince themselves they are in fact good enough. You could try and manifest good in your life. Against all evidence, you could convince yourself the universe cares and that there is in fact enough good inside of yourself.
You could give up completely. Does it matter?
Or maybe this is all a game of settling. What does “good” mean anyway? If I can set the standard or create the grading scale, then I can be good by my own definition.
I’m not sure we were ever meant to measure ourselves in this way. Sadly, it is in the desire to be a good person I’ve seen much damage done to others. People become projects or objects upon which you give mercy to prove yourself “good” or “good enough”.
One thing I do believe is in the mountain of evidence stacked against me I will never be good enough. Something came over me when I came to grips with my inability to be good enough. It has caused me to look outside of myself and find someone else who is good to me.
It is precisely in this search to find good I found an answer of many who have gone before me. That I find myself not good enough, but found in a story where all was created good, and when is promised by the one who is good to me, that all will be good again.
Good might be better used as a noun, rather than an adjective. I have a God who does good to me. He lets me shed any false humility or game to be called good enough. I’ve found the game to be a good person to be an empty one. Instead, I have small glimpses of good I am called to do for others.
The good I do is never enough, but I’ll rest knowing there is one who does good for me and even to me.
Jesus, be good to me when I fail to be good enough. Let me live by your grace and find life in your life, death, and resurrection. Amen.
Sending
In the face of evil, may the God of faithfulness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Jesus Christ. Amen.