I was even blessed enough to be raised a Christian. But all of these blessings to me have come at a cost, a cost that I think many Western Christians face: at times we feel like we are good enough to deserve the blessing of God. Sometimes, we have a feeling of entitlement to the Grace of God.
When I compare my life to many people around me, I often feel like I am doing pretty well. I keep the law rigorously, and I serve often. In the view of society I could appear as an upstanding citizen.
In many ways the teachers of the law and Pharisees were like this, to society they seemed to be upstanding citizens. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were outwardly righteous, beautifully white and pure, but inside they were dead (Matthew 23 verse 27).
Society may think I am good enough (as the Jews may have of thought of the Pharisees and teachers of the law), but it does not mean that I am good enough for God. While works can be a sign of faith (James 2 verses 17-18), they can also easily become a source of self-righteousness and overconfidence.
Jesus taught that appearance was not good enough, and even trying to keep the law was not good enough. "Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment." (John 7 verses 24). What I am guilty of, as were the Pharisees and teachers of the law is of breaking the two most important laws:
"And Jesus said to the lawyer, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."" (Matthew 22 verses 37-40)
The law is there to be followed but also to point us to our inequities. Many of society's outcasts understand their failings very well, and it was these people that accepted Jesus' teachings very quickly. "Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you" (Matthew 21 verse 31).
In this way obvious sinners are blessed, because they understand that they need forgiveness. But people like me who live comfortable and non-offensive lives, we must remind ourselves that appearance is not good enough.
I am only good enough for God because he accepts me with my failings through Christ. The important thing to remember is if we don't acknowledge that we have failings that need forgiving in the sight of God then we can never be forgiven.
"Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Corinthians 6 verses 9-11)
Nathanael Yates from Perth, Western Australia, is an award winning young scientist completing a PhD in neurobiology of schizophrenia
Nathanael Yates' previous articles may be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/nathanael-yates.html