Beauty Beyond me

I have this sweater....

It's one of my favorite sweaters I own.
Nothing fantastic really, just a plain knit, charcoal gray, zip-up sweater with pockets and a wide collar. Somehow though, that sweater has evoked more compliments out of the general population than one would expect. It is for this reason many a-time that I wear said gray sweater on days that I am feeling unloved and down. It's like I'm begging for a compliment without speaking, and eight days out of ten, this is a terrific strategy for uplifted spirits.


This post however is not about my secret sweater-wearing confessions; It's about loveliness.

The message today at Church was all of three things:
1. Spot on True
2. Hard teaching
3. Exactly what I needed to digest

In Mark 7:25 we meet a nameless though unforgettable woman.
This is the Syrophoenician woman whose daughter was possessed by an evil spirit. Don't remember yet?
This is also the woman that Jesus outright calls a DOG in front of everybody!!! Recall the situation:

²⁴ And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. ²⁵ But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. ²⁶Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷ And he said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.” -Mark 7:24-27 (ESV)

As is humanly natural, we look in wonder at this jab from Jesus' lips and wonder how the Loving Gentleman could dare say such a thing to someone who was obviously asking for help. He did just call her a dog without any bush-beating.
"Are you offended?" we were all asked, and so I ask you.... Are you offended? Does this stir something unpleasant inside you?...Why?
Could it be that we fear the real question: What if Jesus was standing before YOU and called YOU a DOG?

NOW ARE YOU OFFENDED?

 Again... Why?

The fact is, we are not worth the bread of Life that Christ offers. Neither you nor I are worth any Life at all. We say to ourselves, 

"Well, Jesus saved me, so I must have some worth"

"True I USED to be terrible, but I have changed a lot since then."

"He doesn't mean me, I'm one of the children He's talking about"

But You Don't, You Haven't, and You're Wrong

We try to soften the Oh so painful blow to our pride and self-image that we have tried so hard to fashion for all to see. We have this incredible longing to feel worth and have importance that we make the assumption that the reason people like us, love us, notice and care at all, is because there is something in us that is lovely.

"..I mean, Why else would Jesus die on a cross for me... there must have been something He saw lovely in me, right?"

 ⁶ For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— ⁸ but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. -Romans 5:7-8(ESV)

courtesy

There was NOTHING Good about us that could possibly prod God into wanting to help us. Ever wonder why the crucifiction of Christ had to be so brutal?
.. If it was just to reconcile the world (full of lovely people of course) He could have simply died with blood shed.... it would have been enough.

Isn't that nice? Well it may be nice, but that isn't reality.
Reality says that the Wrath of God was poured out because of our iniquities on His own Son..

⁹ Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. ¹⁰ For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. -Romans 5:9 (ESV)

We and our "goodness" had nothing to do with it!!
It was FOR WRATH that this happened..... Reality check.
(skip to 4:00 and watch to the end)


Gruesome, yes. And that should have been YOU, Dog.
We were worthy of THAT.

So why do I go into such great detail of the fact that our sins caused such a terrible occurrence? Because it is necessary for us to realize that just because Christ died for our sins (Praise the Lord) and we have been ushered now in as sons, it doesn't make us any more lovely. Remember Paul, when speaking of his want to do the good of God, but acts out in the sinful spirit anyway, remember what he says?

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? -Romans 7:24 (ESV)

He doesn't say "man that I was". Paul had a clear, unbiased view of his position. It is not until we wholly accept such a position that we actually understand what it means to need Jesus. 

to be continued...