What do I deserve?
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What do I deserve? We have all heard at different times “he deserves better than that”. There are times when someone has worked very hard towards some end and then for one reason or another does not see the desired outcome of their work. There are times when it seems quite unfair...and sometimes events in life lead to unfair circumstances. However, when we look at what we actually deserve it can be quite humbling.
In order to approach the topic of what we deserve, we must understand something about God. Because we are human and sometimes only see the physical side of life, we sometimes think that the world revolves around us. We must never forget the creator. The world declares the glory of God and it is all about Him (Psalm 19:1; Romans 11:36). God is pure, holy, sinless, perfect, and all good (Isaiah 6:3). God is holy to an overwhelming degree that we as humans struggle to even comprehend.
In order to approach this topic, we must also understand who we are. God is holy, yet anyway you slice it we are not holy. Sin is offensive to God and always has been. God’s anger towards sin can be seen all through the Bible from the garden of Eden, to the Israelites, to Sodom and Gomorrah, to the Flood, and many other places. The offensive nature of sin is seen in the horrific crucifixion of Christ as the sacrifice for sin. However even though we know the horrible nature of sin, and we know how not to live in sin, we still sin. We are all sinners (Romans 3:23). We work hard at living a good life, helping others, working in His kingdom, all of which we must do. However, the bottom line of the matter is, God is holy and we are unholy.
What do we deserve? What do we as unholy, ungodly, unrighteous sinners deserve? Even the best life we live is offensive before God. Our offensive, sinful, unholy life deserves the wrath of God (Romans 1:18). We deserve nothing less than the wrath, anger, and punishment from God. Yet in our hopeless state, God loved us and gave us what we don’t deserve (1 John 4:10; 2 Cor 5:21; 1 John 3:1). God gave us His son, made us His children, offered us forgiveness and picked us up out of the mire of sin and gave us hope. When we deserved wrath, God offered us mercy, grace, and hope.
How do we react to this truth? How do we react when we face the realization that I deserve the wrath of God? We deserve nothing good, but God has offered us everything. We deserve every harsh punishment, but God gave us the way to forgiveness. When we feel like we deserve heaven, we have missed the point of who we are...and who God is. When we feel like we deserve any good things, we fail to understand just who we really are. When we come to a realization that without God we are wretched and deserving of His wrath, we can then begin trusting in Him for forgiveness. Not a forgiveness we earn or in anyway deserve, but a forgiveness, mercy, grace, and hope that are possible because of God’s love for us. What is our reaction? We should desire to give EVERYTHING for the one who had given us that which we could never deserve.
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Deserve or not deserve to me are based on faith, track record, faith, loyalty, faith.
Coach O didn't deserve what the LSU Alumni Athletic genius' dished him. Lack of faith, lack of loyalty, lack of examination of a track record. As every person should know, college football evolves every graduation period. Recruiting is an important factor in a teams' development. But longevity in a coaching tradition plays a factor in recruiting. Alabama .... take 'em or leave 'em. I'll take them and I'll take the tried and true Alabama fans for having an endearing, longterm belief in their proven coaches .... Bear Bryant and Nick Saban.
Maybe this approach should have a reflection on your relationship with God. Every day, every season, every year, God (in your eyes) may not be coming through for you. But it's not God's purpose to come through for us. It's our love and obligation to God where we should be coming through to Him. He'll be my coach forever and there are football coaches that will remain my coach forever.
