When I visited my parents a couple of weeks ago, I thought about my childhood and the way I felt growing up in my parents' house, and going to this smarty-pants high school, and spending time with mostly Indians in my personal life. I was also immersed in the pop culture of the 80s. It was sarcastic, not very humble, and a lot more "let's make money and here's the way to do it" - the exact opposite of the free-wheeling 70s where everything was okay to try. I think back to that decade with some fondness for the pop culture, but I feel so different now, so changed in so many ways.
I guess the funny thing about the way I grew up versus what I am learning these days is that the words "we're not worthy" is exactly how I felt today about Jesus when listening to Tim's sermon about Matthew 20: 29-34 (oh yeah, I'm making that connection, always reaching, aren't I). Tim laid out how Jesus' calling of the two blind men was so much more miraculous than the healing of their sight. And the same is true for us. Our physical and emotional healing through the Holy Spirit is NOT the primary reason we should be grateful. It is because He made us His and called us.
I've been teaching a class on growing up Christian to youth girls for the last couple of weeks. I have none of my own training to draw from, because I grew up agnostic. But I am watching my own kids do this. I asked my youth girls this week, "what is the gospel?" One said, "the Bible." Another said, "Jesus." So I followed up with: "Yes, but more: it's about who God is, who man is, why we needed Jesus, how God solved that for us, and how God then works in us." If I went to a church and then all I heard about is God's love and how we should apply that to our lives, I would be missing 75% of the gospel. No, more. I'd be missing the gospel altogether. If I don't hear about man's need, and man's sin, week after week, I lose the humility that I desperately need to be grateful. And I forget that I'm not worthy.
