What are you trusting in? (Part 2)

 You Don't Have to Clean Yourself Up First

I've heard people say something over the years that has always stuck with me. "God will meet you at the bottom, because that's when all you can do is look up."

Those words aren't found anywhere in the Bible.

But the more I've been reading through the Gospels, the more I understand why people say it. I've noticed that Jesus continually welcomed people who knew they needed Him.

One of the biggest lies I've heard is this: "I'll come to God once I get my life together."

Maybe you've said that. Maybe you're waiting until you beat that addiction. Maybe you're waiting until your marriage is fixed. Maybe you're waiting until you've stopped making the same mistakes. Maybe you're waiting until you finally feel "good enough."

The problem is...none of us will ever be good enough.

If we could earn God's acceptance by cleaning ourselves up, there would've been no reason for Jesus to come.

As I've been reading through the Gospels, I've noticed something that has really changed the way I think.

Jesus didn't spend His time looking for people who had it all together. He sought out the broken. The hurting. The outcasts. The sinners.

When the religious leaders criticized Him for spending time with people they considered unworthy, Jesus answered them by saying:

"Healthy people don't need a doctor—sick people do." (Mark 2:17, NLT)

Then He explained that He came for people who knew they were sinners—not for people who thought they didn't need Him.

I love that picture.

No one walks into an emergency room and says, "I'll come back after I heal myself." They go because they know they need help.

Jesus is saying the same thing. He didn't come looking for people who had already fixed their lives. He came for people who knew they couldn't. Maybe that's why that saying resonates with so many people.

Sometimes we have to come to the end of ourselves before we finally realize that Jesus is all we've ever needed.

Maybe the clearest picture Jesus gives us is found in the story of the prodigal son.

After wasting his father's inheritance and hitting rock bottom, the son finally decided to go home. He wasn't coming back because he had fixed his life. He wasn't coming back because he had suddenly become a better person. He was coming back because he finally realized he couldn't do it on his own anymore.

What happened next is one of the most beautiful pictures in all of Scripture.

Jesus tells us that while the son "was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him." (Luke 15:20, NLT)

Think about that for a minute.

The father didn't stand on the porch and wait for his son to get cleaned up. He didn't make him prove he had changed. He didn't tell him to come back after he looked respectable.

He ran to him.

I can't help but think that's exactly what Jesus wanted us to see about the heart of God. God isn't waiting for us to become worthy enough to come to Him. He's waiting for us to come to Him.

That's grace.

That doesn't mean Jesus leaves us where we are. Following Christ changes us. Our desires begin to change. Our attitudes begin to change. Our lives begin to change.

But those changes happen because we've come to Him—not so that we can.

If you're waiting until you have your life together before coming to Jesus, you may be waiting forever. Jesus doesn't ask you to clean yourself up before you come to Him.

He asks you to come.

Jesus also made this promise:

"However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them." (John 6:37, NLT)

Think about that for a minute. 

He didn't say He would receive people after they became worthy. He said He would never reject the one who comes to Him. If today feels like rock bottom... If you're carrying guilt... If you're ashamed of your past... If you feel like you've messed up too many times...

Don't believe the lie that you have to become someone different before God will accept you.

Come to Jesus. Not because you've finally earned His love. But because you'll never be able to. Come because He loves you enough to receive you just as you are...

And He loves you too much to leave you there.


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