If All That Jesus Does...
If all that Jesus does is tell me to be a better person, his words will lead me to despair if I keep screwing up, or pride if I’m able to do most things well. This is not good news. The best I can hope for is a culturally defined morality, always shoring up my own sincerity and relative righteousness. Trying to appear “okay” or good enough. This broken understanding of how life works will always lead to insecurity and pretense. Why? Because this kind of hope is built on the shaky and shifting ground of human approval. It results in a truly barren existence, one that is completely based on my performance and how others think I’m doing. But if God is the One who forgives and loves me as I am…not as I ought to be…and then starts growing his own disposition, his very life, within me, I can have real hope. I start by humbly accepting his radical acceptance. An acceptance that requires nothing for me to prove, defend or protect. I no longer have to pretend to be someone or some thing I am not. This should be called good news. But it’s difficult to believe, because it requires that I abandon all hope in myself. That’s the hard part, and that's why so many different beliefs dominate the religious landscape. We’re usually not aware of it, but we are obsessed with ourselves and addicted to finding ways to prove our worth. We may think of ourselves as religious or spiritual, or we may take pride in not being religious at all. But underneath we’re all the same. Always striving for some kind of validation. Here’s a clue. Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” I love the way Ken Boa paraphrased this well-known Beatitude: “I’m most blessed when I live each moment as though I’m in desperate need of God’s grace, for in that moment I increase my ownership in the kingdom of God.” The truly blessed are people who have bottomed out on their own goodness. They are completely bankrupt and know it. They have nothing to offer. At least nothing to offer God. The game is over. The pretense is done. The pressure is off. So, what do we do? Try breathing. Exhale, releasing any hope of ever doing enough. Inhale, counting on nothing but the gift of God’s utter and complete acceptance.Now this is good news.
**********************


