The Truth about Us by Brant Hansen
Author:Brant Hansen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Christian Living;Theological anthropology—Christianity;Identity (Psychology)—Religious aspects—Christianity;REL012120;REL012070
ISBN: 9781493421473
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2020-02-24T00:00:00+00:00
Forgetful People
As much as we want to believe we are good people, and whatever we claim to believe about God, the way we act seems to suggest that we all suspect there’s a yawning, terrible gap between us and true goodness. We want to traverse it ourselves. We’ll use our religious acts, our social justice commitments, our endless justifications and rationalizations—whatever we sense it might take. We’ll even try to convince ourselves that the terrible thing, that deep separation, really isn’t there after all.
Yet the sense persists. We continue to be driven by this more than anything else.
Until we run into the love of God. The one who wants us to finally acknowledge who we are and who he is. He knows us better than we know ourselves and still finds us extremely worthwhile.
It’s so hard for many of us to really believe it, to really let it soak in: Our value to God isn’t determined by our goodness at all. He loves us because that’s what he does. He loves.
Yes, I’ve heard that a thousand times, and maybe you have too. But it’s only when I begin to believe it that I can not only admit I’m not a “good person” but do it joyfully, knowing my value isn’t attached to my morality.
I often struggle to believe. I forget. I need to be reminded: “Brant, God actually loves you. He’s for you. He’s not a cosmic sheriff waiting to blast you with his six-shooter in the sky.”
I need people around me to demonstrate his love. I’ve never been a good pray-er, but I need to keep communicating with him. I need to keep opening my Bible and reading stories about how he operates. I’m a forgetful person.
I know I’m not alone. Honestly, I think we believe God loves us, yes, but we still struggle with self-righteousness because we’re forgetful people.
When I actually confess my sins, I’m reminded that God still loves me. I can breathe it in again. And I can stop being so judgmental of others and myself.
There’s a semi-famous story of a man (Will Campbell, in his autobiography) whose friend wanted him to sum up Christianity. He didn’t want another long, complex explanation. Could Will do it in less than ten words?
Will came up with this: “We’re all bastards but God loves us anyway.”3
His friend told him he could try again, since he had two words left. But I think Campbell did a pretty good job. “God loves us anyway” means he’s the one spanning the terrible gap. We can’t do it, try as we might, and almost everyone is trying.
We can deal with guilt in a thousand destructive, indirect ways. We can try to ignore it, sublimate it, or rationalize it away, or we can come clean and ask for forgiveness.
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