Not good enough. How’s that make you feel? I can tell you. It makes me feel like CRAP... useless and worthless (and before judging me for using that word... look it up... it’s in the Bible... DUNG... same difference). There’s a myth going around... it’s all over the place. People set up standards that they believe others should meet... people set up conditions in their own minds... and it’s ALL untrue. I’m not good enough... you’re not good enough... do this, do that and then you’ll be ready. I think I’ll start going to church AFTER I stop ____________ (fill in the blank). You can serve the Lord when you ______________ (fill in the blank). Requirements. Stipulations. LIES.

It’s time we put a STOP to it.

If you want to know the Truth... God doesn’t operate like that. Let’s take a look at the history:

Noah: passed out drunk and naked... God calls him a righteous man.

Abraham: speech impediment, fearful, cowardly... God calls him a man of faith.

David: adulterer, murderer, lazy, greedy... God calls him a man after his own heart.

We as humans, love to focus on our weakness and failings... God doesn’t do that. He doesn’t use our faults to beat us down... make us feel bad... or disqualify us. He definitely wants us to be aware of, and sorry for our mistakes... to come to him, confess, be forgiven and sin no more... but in the process, he loves, forgives, encourages, and hopes for us.

Here are more examples as we move to the New Testament in Jesus day:

Judas: knowing that Judas would betray him Jesus kept him in his inner circle and continued to love, encourage and trust him (Judas was the treasurer - guy who handles the money) even when he KNEW it was to no avail.

Peter: a headstrong and impetuous man who boasted of his bravery, but when the time came, his courage failed him... yet Jesus always loved him and restored him when he needed it, and he went on to be a big part of building the Church.

Paul: Christian hater, instrumental in the deaths of many who loved Jesus... but Jesus met him where he was and in the end Paul wrote most of the New Testament.

These are only a few examples of the kind of people God loves and accepts. It’s that love and acceptance that spurred these people on to become the greatness God had planned for them all along.

If anyone (including yourself) tries to tell you that you are not ‘good enough’ remember... Jesus loves us just as we are and he will make us into who he wants us to be as we come closer to him through that love... and don’t you forget it! Let no one disqualify you.

Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

Colossians 2:18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. 19 He has lost connection with the Head (Jesus), from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

And the hogs didn’t eat her...

My grandparent were farmers. They lived way out in the country on a gravel road. The county used to come and oil the road every now and then to keep the dust down. They had a huge barn, a silo and another hog barn down the road with a pond next to it. For a long time they were dairy farmers, but eventually changed to growing corn, beans and pigs. Some of my best memories of my childhood are of the time I got to spend with them on that farm.

When I was very young, probably around four years old, I remember being out on the swing set one day. My little sister (almost two years younger) was with me. We were both on swings facing opposite directions. I was facing the fields and she was facing the house. We were having a grand old time, swinging away, when all of a sudden, I SAW THEM. The hogs were loose. These were not your cute little pink piggies of story book fame. These pigs were big and mean. Some of them had huge teeth that looked like tusks. They were all different colors: black, gray with black spots or reddish brown. They were very ugly and very frightening.

I had seen my Grandpa working with these hogs... trying to get them to do what he needed them to when he had to load them or doctor them or whatever else you do to pigs. It was usually a very violent process. He would yell and wave his arms and poke them or beat on them with a stick. Sometimes he would climb up on the fence and put his feet on their backs or backsides to shove them along. He called them by name... Tom, Dick and Harry are a few I remember. He did not use these names affectionately like ‘Here Tom... here piggy piggy piggy’... no, not like that at all. I don’t think those were given names, but just what he called any random pig at any given time as he ‘hollered’ at them. I also remember hearing that Grandpa had been hurt by them. I was afraid of them and when I saw them coming toward my sister and me, I froze.

I didn’t say a word to her. She was swinging away, oblivious to the danger that was headed toward us. I am ashamed to say... I left her there. I can’t remember why... I don’t even recall any of the thoughts going through my head. Maybe I was afraid that if I said anything they would come charging at me. Maybe some mean part of me wanted to leave her there. Maybe I was stupid and thought it was funny. Who knows? But I do remember that I quietly left the swing set and went into the house.

I think I told my grandmother that the hogs were out and I’m really thankful that she went outside and got my sister, and the hogs didn’t eat her, but none of it is really clear. The only part I remember very clearly is quietly sneaking away and leaving my sister behind. I hope when she reads this story she’ll be able to forgive me. I realize now, how much danger I left my little sister in. Maybe that’s why I remember it so well. My own fear or selfishness or stupidity or youth rendered me incapable of protecting someone I care about very much

What would I do today? I hope I would react differently than I did as a toddler. I’d like to think that in any given situation, I would be able to put another’s welfare ahead of my own... but we can never really be sure until something like that happens to us. Usually, I am not put to much of a test in this area. So far, I haven’t had to rescue anyone from a really dangerous situation... no running into a burning building to save someone... no stepping in front of a bullet... and I’ve yet to have a loved one who needed me to donate a vital body part. Whew! What would I do if it came to any of these things... or something even more serious? What if it required my life? What if it was going to be horrific... humiliating... excruciatingly painful? And what if I knew all this beforehand? Would I be able to walk that road? These are questions that can’t really be answered by speculation... only living through them could give us the true answers.

I know someone who can say ‘Yes’... he would do it... because he already did. For you... for me. Thank you Jesus.

Isaiah 53:5

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.