IMO: You Deserve to Be Happy - Wednesday
Philippians 2:3-4
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. (NIV)
One of the little pep talks you might hear after a breakup from a well-meaning friend is this statement: “You deserve to be happy!” While this may be a word of encouragement with the best of intentions, this statement can creep into the back of our minds and lead us to think that our biggest goal in life is to be happy. After all, we deserve it, right?
Let’s stop and remember for a second what we really deserve. We deserve… death.
Romans 3:23 says, “...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” And Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death…” Because of our sinfulness, we all deserve death. Sin has consequences, and someone has to pay the price for our sins. Nothing we could do could ever make up for the distance between our sinfulness and God’s holiness. However, the story doesn’t end there. The rest of Romans 6:23 says, “...but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” We didn’t deserve it, couldn’t earn it on our own, but Jesus came and took our place, paying the price for our sins.
Jesus humbled himself so much that He came to Earth as a human, took on the nature of a servant, and died a death He didn’t deserve. Jesus sets the ultimate example of humility.
In a culture that says that we deserve to be happy, let’s take a humble approach knowing that we don’t deserve anything. God gives us beyond what we deserve. We can serve and love our neighbors even when they don’t deserve it, and we can forgive people who don’t deserve forgiveness. Because we have been given far more love and forgiveness than we deserve, we can extend the same grace to others.
Wednesday’s Reflection
Thankfully, God doesn’t give us what we deserve. We don’t have to do anything to earn His love, nor can we. Choose one person today to show love to, even if they don’t deserve it.
