Have you ever known someone who constantly told everyone about how great they were and what great things they had done?

What did you think of them?

We all face the temptation of making ourselves out to be great in other people’s eyes. We like to be liked. We like to be admired.

When it comes to our life of faith, however, we need to take a step back and look at ourselves through God’s eyes. We aren’t that great in terms of our own accomplishments and righteousness.

In fact, we are pretty horrible.

Every one of us is a sinner, rebellious to God, and frequently uncaring to our neighbor.

We are, however, loved.

We are righteous, too, but not because of our own works. As mentioned before, they aren’t anything to write home about. We are righteous because Jesus’ righteousness has been imputed, or put upon, us. In other words, we are righteous because Jesus is righteous.

Jesus took our sins and gave us His righteousness.

So, we can’t boast about ourselves. There’s nothing to honestly boast about. We can boast about Jesus, what He has done, and what He continues to do.

This really matters in the church.

There’s a lot of fakeness in church. For some reason, we have allowed the idea that we have to look like really good Christians all the time and that means we have to look like we don’t sin. It isn’t true and that’s not really a good definition of a really good Christian.

What if we started defining a really good Christian as someone who doesn’t have to pretend they don’t sin, but rather they are someone who humbly admits their sin and admits their complete reliance on Jesus’.

That points people to Jesus, not ourselves.

Maybe people in the church who are struggling with sin or struggling in the marriage or just plain struggling would feel like they could be open about it and receive the help and support they need. I say this as though it is just SOME people who struggle like that when the truth is, that is ALL of us.

You are a sinner and your life is a mess. So, am I. But Jesus died for sinners. He died for you and me and our broken lives to forgive our sins and make us whole. We don’t need to commend ourselves. We stand commended by God because of Jesus.

You are a sinner and your life is a mess. So, am I. But Jesus died for sinners. He died for you and me and our broken lives to forgive our sins and make us whole. We don’t need to commend ourselves. We stand commended by God because of Jesus.

Heavenly Father,

I am a sinner and I struggle with sin every day of my life. Please forgive me. Help me to be able to humbly admit my sin, but stand confidently in Your grace. May my life and my humility help to make Your church a place where people who struggle with sin and confess, hear of Your forgiveness and receive the love and support they need.

Amen.