Skip to main content

"Better than I deserve."

It happened again yesterday.

Not long ago I stole a saying from Dave Ramsey. When people ask me, "How are you?" I now answer with Ramsey's, "Better than I deserve." For me this is simply an acknowlegment of God's grace. I'm saying to them and at the same time reminding myself that no matter how good life is and no matter how bad life gets, I am where I am by the sovereign grace of God.

The responses I get, however, are interesting. Often it's just a pregnant pause. The person in front of me has not heard that before and he or she doesn't know how to reply. They pause and stumble through an, "Uh...well...." and then they awkwardly move on. I've taken to quickly following "Better than I deserve" with a question for them in order to keep the conversation going.

Yesterday, I heard a reply I've gotten several times and am not yet sure what to do with. Conversation is an art, not a science, I know that, and so I'm trying to engage the artist and poet in me to figure out how to best point to the Creator who gives me grace in my conversations. Yesterday a woman I was doing business with on the phone said, "Oh, I'm sure you deserve better than you think!" I just let it slide and moved on. But what could I say?

Once I tried, "Well I'm a sinner and I deserve the wrath of God." While true, it most definitely is a conversation stopper with most Americans. I could try to explain the meaning of grace. But often such an explanation requires too many words for a brief encounter with a stranger.

What about you? How would you answer someone who told you that you deserve better than you're getting?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What makes you happy in God?

"...above all things see to it that your souls are happy in the Lord." - George Mueller The first order of business every day, says Mueller, is to get my soul happy in God. Great advice. But I've not yet mastered the technique. One of the ways I like to do that is by thinking about glory. I don't know exactly what glory looks like. I've been asking God to show it to me lately, but he's not yet given me a big glorious experience. The Apostle Paul, however, must have had a strong vision of it: "...the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." - Romans 8:18-19 And talk about suffering! Paul knew suffering: "Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three timesI was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea...." -2 Cor. 11:24-25 So, Paul suffered much, but said it couldn't be compared wi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Teaching my kids about the bloody atonement

Our memory verse this week is 1 Peter 2:24: "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed." As I was working on memorizing it during my prayer time today it occurred to me that I should use this verse to teach my kids about the atoning sacrifice of Christ. Why? Why do I think it's important to teach them about the atonement? The atonement is one of the central doctrines of Christianity. Paul said, "I resolved to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." The tendency in American churches is to get soft on sin and not talk too much about the bloody atonement of Christ. A full understanding of the atonement will grab their hearts. It will inspire worship. If they understand who God is and why he does what he does then the roots of their faith will sink deep into the soil of God's love and they will bear the fruit of righteousness. So, here...
Post a Comment
Read more

The PAPA Prayer

What is prayer? Will I ever master it? Last night our "Book of Every Other Month Club" met at Barnes & Noble to discuss The PAPA Prayer , by Larry Crabb. Not everyone in the group appreciated the book. I did. One of the things I liked about Crabb's teaching is that the PAPA prayer moves me. It starts with an honest look at where I am and takes me deeper into me than I want to go. PAPA then teaches me to look up to God and moves me out of the muddy pit of my flesh and sets my feet on the Rock. I agree with Matthew Hoffman who said, "I spend far too much time contemplating myself (my desires, my opinions, my thoughts, etc.) and never enough time contemplating my Savior's work and grace. I am so very thankful for men like Mr. Jerry Bridges, C.J. Mahaney and of course Mr. Spurgeon himself who call us to 'preach the gospel to ourselves every day!'" If prayer leaves me stuck on me and my desires then I am lost in a deep, empty pit. If, however, I can ...
Post a Comment
Read more