Look to the need!!!

ALAS! AND DID MY SAVIOR BLEED?

Alas! and did my Savior bleed

And did my Sovereign die?

Would He devote that sacred head

For sinners such as I?

[originally, For such a worm as I?]      

Issac Watts

That line, “for sinners such as I,” stuck in my head this morning. 

I began to wonder if I really knew what it meant in my life.  It’s easy to say, “I’m a sinner” (and we may add “saved by grace”).  We say it somewhat flippantly at times as though it was a “duhhh.”  But if we really take the time to reflect (prayerfully) on what the “such as I” means in our lives things can get really serious really fast.

I know that I have to work to plant my feet on His grace and look at the “such as I.”  It’s just too easy to allow myself to get at least a little smug and lazy about my sin.  When I do that I lose something – I lose the humility and dependency I need to really grow in Him.

I want to develop a mindset that recognizes and appreciates the fact that I need no less of the blood of the Redeemer right now than I did before He called me to Himself.  I will never not need it all.  Jesus will never have suffered less for my overcoming even the most minor seeming infraction.

Notice that the last verse was changed.  From worm – to sinner (see my blog on Worminess).  Though it’s nice to use sinner rather than worm I wonder if the word “sinner” has lost some of its impact on our hearts, especially when we seek to share the good news. 

Do we communicate the Gospel sinner to sinner or “Ok-sinner” to sinner?  Though I am “in” Christ I am no less a sinner than my friend who is not “in” Christ.  Oh, I am redeemed, I have the assurance His promise and sacrifice provides – but I am still a sinner – I haven’t quit sinning.  Do I keep in mind, as I share the Gospel, that in that very moment I am no less in need of His saving grace than the person I am sharing with? 

The Gospel is a n“everybody” thing – everybody needs to hear it and everybody needs to accept it.  It is not a “you” thing.  The only “once for all” was His redeeming death.  He died once for us.  We are saved AND being saved.  We (believers) work out our salvation with fear and trembling – our only confidence is in Him.

It’s tough to discover a good analogy for the “wormy” attitude.  But I really believe that we need to cultivate it in gratitude and hope and assurance of His promises.  What have we to lose if we rekindle the sense of need we had the day He called us. Perhaps all we’ll lose is our comfortable complacency and the projection of an attitude of superiority.  We, in Him, are better off, not better.  We are redeemed sinners but still sinners.

I remember a dog food commercial where a child sings:

My dog’s bigger than your dog

My dog’s bigger than yours

My dog’s bigger ‘cause he gets  XXXXXX

My dog’s bigger than yours

I can almost hear some believer somewhere singing

My life’s better than your life

My life’s better than yours

My life’s better ‘cause, it’s got Jesus in it

My life’s better than yours

Well, my hope is better, my relationship with God is better, the beliefs and teachings that shape my living arebetter – but my “life” here – it’s pretty much like everyone else’s.  As far as sin – I can run with the best of them.  In regards to a need for His provision, especially His redemption, my need is NEVER any less than the worst of the worst of the worst.

Dottie Rambo wrote lyrics which are to be sung to the tune of that great Irish ballad, O’ Danny Boy.  I sing it often (ok, not well but fervently).  The lyrics are:

He Looked Beyond My Fault

Verse

Amazing grace shall always be my song of praise,

for it was grace that brought my liberty;

I do not know just why He came to love me so,

He looked beyond my fault and saw my need.

Chorus

I shall forever life mine eyes to Calvary,

to view the cross where Jesus died for me,

how marvelous the grace that caught my falling soul;

He looked beyond my fault and saw my need.

As we share the Gospel, I suggest we prayerfully seek to look beyond their faults and focus on their need.  I also suggest that before we share, we prayerfully remember that indeed, He looked beyond our faults and saw OUR need – and He still does.