Mark McMinn, in his book, “Why Sin Matters: The Surprising Relationship Between Our Sin and God’s Grace” reminds us of that: “Part of our mess is not knowing we are a mess….It’s been observed in surveys that the average person believes he (or she) is better than the average person.”
As we talk with, work with, pray with men and women who have run out of everything and need our help, it is all too easy to fall into the trap McMinn mentions – seeing ourselves as super-saints bending low to help a one less fortunate. When we think we have the answers to someone else’s problems and just can’t understand why they don’t want to take our advice, it is vital to avoid adopting an “us against them” mentality - an attitude of superiority like the Pharisee in the temple (Luke 18:11).
When my children were growing up, I’d occasionally hear one of them say, “You always take his (or her) side because you just like him (or her) best.” I knew they could not understand until they had children of their own how a mother can love each of her children with her whole heart and still have plenty of love left over. How much greater than this is the Father’s love for us – all of us – love beyond all measure. God knows all our faults and still considers us His treasure. When we trust Him with our failures, He uses them to move us forward toward maturity. Can we do less for those He has called us to love?
“I have a maker. He formed my heart.
Before even time began, my life was in His hands.
He knows my name;
He knows my every thought.
He sees each tear that falls and hears me when I call.”
“I have a Father. He calls me His own.
He’ll never leave me no matter where I go.
He knows my name;
He knows my every thought.
He sees each tear that falls and hears me when I call.”
-Vicki Bollman, Women’s Ministries
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