Better Than I Deserve?

“Better than I deserve“ is the answer a friend gave when I asked how he was doing, and his heart was probably in the right place. He intended to be humble. 

I am not sure the Bible says that, though, not for believers. We used to deserve wrath, and, sadly,  unbelievers still do. But that is exactly the point — wrath is no longer what we deserve.

Don’t get me wrong. I do not endorse “name it and claim it” pseudo-theology, nor the heresy that we are entitled to Cadillacs since we are “King’s kids.”

What I fear is in question when we say, “Better than I deserve,” is our understanding of our identity.

I say all of the following to exalt Jesus, not humans. 

We would be right to say Jesus deserves everything and we deserve nothing on our own.  But — we are not on our own.  That is past tense and therefore no longer describes us. 

We are in Christ (Col 3:3), and he has given us all the spiritual blessings there are (Ephesians 1:3).  He gives us a lavish inheritance (Eph 1:11,18) and shares his throne with us (Eph 2:6).  We reign with him (think about that for a moment (2 Tim 2:12)).

If we think we our identity is still “Undeserving”, we have not quite  understood what the Bible says about our place in him.  

Because we are in Christ, we are partakers of the divine nature.  “by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature,” 2 Peter 1:4a.

Because we are in Christ, we are the righteousness of God. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God,” ‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭5:21‬ .‭

Because we are in Christ, he has exalted us.  “And raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” Eph 2:6.

Do we believe we are the righteousness of God, like the Bible says?  Or that we are partakers of the divine nature?  Or that Christ paid a lot so we could sit on his throne with him?

If not, it may be worth revisiting what Father says about his Firstborn Son, and all his other sons and daughters who are in Him.