I Ask For Nothing
Last weekend I was visiting my friend’s church. The pastor made a couple of references in his sermon to young people. At one point he leaned over his pulpit, took off his glasses, and lowered his voice.
“I wonder,” he said slowly, pronouncing each word distinctly and looking directly into our faces. “How many of you teenagers have truly felt in desperate need of forgiveness?”
And there was a profound silence.
In that moment, I did…because I realized that I hadn’t. I have had moments where I was wretched, guilty, shamed. But I honestly don’t know that I have ever desperately felt that I needed God’s forgiveness, and that’s convicting.
The pastor followed that question with, “If you haven’t, you will,” and it really made me think how little of life I’ve lived. Does this discovery of mine simply mean that I’m a generally “good” girl and have lived a generally quiet life? Or does it mean that I don’t go out passionately enough in what I do- and thence don’t make any passionate-sized mistakes? It’s amazing how much buzzing can go on inside of a head in such a short time. I don’t think there’s a real answer to a conviction like that. It just IS. I hadn’t been desperate.
I was distinctly reminded of that Sunday morning when I was on my way to a class the next day, listening to the motion picture soundtrack of Disney’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” There’s a song entitled “God Help The Outcasts” and it’s a prayer, inside the cathedral, of the gypsy Esmeralda. There’s a portion of the song where you can hear the rest of the church goers, praying for wealth, power, love, etc. Then Esmeralda sings…
”I ask for nothing
I can get by
But I know so many
Less lucky than I…”
And I just thought….how often do WE think like that?
Me? In desperate need of forgiveness? No Lord, not I. Lord, help the others. The ones who are sick. The ones who are weak.
And that’s not a wrongful prayer. But it’s incomplete. Because I can’t afford to go a day without saying, “Lord, I need you desperately. I can’t get by.”
I cannot ever delude myself into asking for nothing. God wants to pour Himself into me…and I must pray to Him, for His grace, to continually remind me of that.
Filed under: Christian Living, Humility, Weakness
So sorry this is late, girls.
Very interesting post. I think our greatest problem in terms of forgiveness is that we do not have a properly realistic view of how deep our sin goes. Satan, of course, wants nothing more than to hide that from us. The solution is to take a long, deep look at the law of God. The Ten Commandments, when understood properly, will drive us to Christ in desperate need of forgiveness more than anything else possibly can. To understand just how far this law reaches, read the Westminster Larger Catechism, question 99, available here:
http://www.opc.org/lc.html
Wow. That makes one think.
This really hit home and made me realize how blessed I am. I am blessed to have seen how nothing I am and how much, how so very much I need God and His Forgiveness.
Some sins linger for a while before I’ve really realized the truth — that is a sin and it crucifies Jesus, pounds the nails, spits on Him and mocks Him every time I do it.
I need to remember my deperate need of God — yes, daily — when I see the unbelieving world. Often times, I look at someone who has, or is doing, a truly horrible thing in God’s Sight and I go, “My heart does not cry out for that person. Look at what they do!” What I need to do is cry out to God to make my heart like His towards that person.
I crucified Him. I sinned. Look at what I did! Yet look at how His Heart still cried out for me — and for God’s Forgiveness of me! Look at how He had Compassion on me — how He Loved and Loves me still!
I am in desperate need of Forgiveness, still, and in desperate need for His Heart to consume my own.
I need His Grace. I need His Forgiveness. I need Him.
Man, this is such a stong message that is very true. I often find myself taking God’s grace and love for granted. I am so glad I started reading through these archives because this definitely made an impact when I read it and I think many young (and even some older) Christians get lost in being so ready to help others that they load too much on themselves. It’s okay to say no and just cry out to the Lord for help. He’s always willing (and waiting) to give us a helping hand. I often find encouragement from the poem “Footprints in the Sand”, it’s so simple of a poem, but it has such an amazing message to it.
-Bee-