A thought from Richard Rohr caught my attention today, “We stop seeking our own worthiness and we begin to know the gift of God.”1 Rohr, here, was reflecting on the solution to the problem that first must be identified.
I have been thinking about how I judge others in order to make myself feel more important. It is easy. For example, I consider myself a considerate driver. I signal and stop at stop signs, etc. However, I do not ignore others who do not. Rather, I feel riled up and consider them bums. Why do I do that? Paul brings me a step closer to understanding why. In a context about sin, not being tempted, and carrying the burden of others, he says (loosely translated):
“If anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Let each one evaluate his own actions. Only then, regarding himself alone and not regarding another person, can he have a ground for satisfaction” (Gal 6:3-4).
Another text comes to mind. When a person came to Jesus and asked, “What
must I do to inherit eternal life?” he was asking how he could merit being in
the Presence of God (see Mark 10:17 – 22).2 Jesus destroys that way of thinking by
replying, “No one is good, except God alone” (v. 18). In a following discussion with his disciples,
Jesus shocked them by telling them that being saved is humanly impossible
(10:24-27). I am like that person. Why?
The Problem: First, it seems to me that innately all people at the very least conceive of some “Ideal” and realize we do not measure up it. As Jesus implied, there is only One who is good, and that is not me. I find myself floundering in life on that inadequacy. As Paul implied, we cannot consider ourselves something when we are really nothing. Being “a nothing” is my innate human condition. I try to self-measure up. Like the man with Jesus, I look at what I think my merits are. Like Paul’s point, I try to self-measure up by comparing myself to others. It can be rather ridiculous. For example, if I am overweight but do not smoke, I can take pride in myself and judge my neighbor for being a smoker. At the time, she may be pleased about herself and judging me for being overweight. This ingrained insecurity of our own unworthiness manifests itself as a threat to those around us. We seek self-worth” in various earthly ways: popularity, power, wealth, sexual conquests, etc. It is the foundation for our tribalism by which exclude the worth of others. It is the foundation of the evil we perpetuate on others. That is the problem behind Rohr’s above solution.
The Solution: When I entrust myself to the divine gift of a relationship with God in Jesus, I can stop seeking my own worthiness. After all, it is a futile pursuit. When I fully realize and accept that there is One who is Good, and unaccountably that One accepts me as worthy of a relationship, then the motivation for striving for self-worth is removed. The compulsion to compare myself with others favorably or unfavorably has no basis to exist.
Lord, in my head I know that the foundation of my life is the relationship with you that you have graciously granted. In practice, though, my life is still full of insecurity and the desire for self-worth that are destructive impulses. Empower me by your Presence through the Holy Spirit to “put to death” that “old man” and to live in the “new person” I am in relationship with you.3
1) Richard Rohn Daily Meditation from 11/6/23, of which I saw a summary.
2) There is more to notice about how Jesus deals with this person. In brief, Jesus knows that the man sees himself as righteous. Jesus cleverly lists only part of the 10 Commandments and the man insists he has kept them. But the commands that Jesus had left out, the commands about putting God first, Jesus implicitly brings into play by asking the man to give up all he has and to follow him. The man cannot do so; he does not put God first.
3) I am combining phrases from concepts of Paul from Romans 8:9 – 17 and Colossians 3:5 – 14 about living a new life in Christ.
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