Confessions Of A Pastor, Part V
I wish you knew your worth!
I wish you viewed yourself better than you do.
I wish you understood why you should attend a church service. Notice how I didn’t say I wish you would ‘go to church.’ You can’t go to something you are. People don’t wake up and go to church. Typically on Sunday mornings, the church wakes up and comes together to celebrate. At least that’s what should happen. If you “go to a church” that tells you how bad you are before they tell you how good Jesus is, you haven’t found a church. If you have to be told how much you’re a sinner before you’re told how loved you are, it’s not love you’ve found. What you’ve found is a place that is led by an orphan…a pastor who doesn’t know his or her own worth.
My friends, you don’t go to church to learn how to be good. You go to church to praise the one that already made you good. Read it again, marinate on the truth, and let it sink in.
As I heard Don Keathley once say, “The finished work of the cross gives us conclusions not conditions.”
Here are those conclusions…
Jesus loves you as you are, not as you think you should be.
Jesus already perfected you. You’re not becoming more perfect, your brain is simply trying to catch up with the reality that you already are.
Jesus qualified you. In doing so, performance based religion becomes obsolete. Thus, nullifying the excuse you already made to argue your perfection. Because perfection isn’t tied to your performance, your performance can’t reverse your perfection.
Jesus gives you your worth. Because there is nothing to contend for or strive to be, you can rest in knowing your value.
And these conclusions are so important for you to understand because they change the reason for why you get dressed to “go to church.” The service becomes a party for you. It becomes a boost of encouragement to equip you for the week ahead. It gets your head thinking right thoughts as you're reminded of your sonship/daughterhood so that people and circumstances don’t dictate your joy. It becomes a reason to participate because you recognize the responsibility you have to be a thermostat in every room you enter…bringing life with you every where you go.
Because once you know your worth, the people around you will soon know theirs.