Spoiled Rotten

Every year around this time I get real irritated. I look around and see that everyone is getting everything they have ever wanted and more; and what do I have? In the words of the wise Si from Duck Dynasty, I ain't got  jack.

Spoiled rotten. All I could say to myself these past years is "they don't deserve that." 16 year old girls driving around in 2013 Cameros and junior high kids receiving Ipads, while they still beg for more. Meanwhile I'm left here, literally without a car to drive, a phone to call, or money to spend. This happens every year and it seems to never fail. I used to wish that I lived the life that those families and kids live; a full family, looking like they had it all together. Some would call it The Good Life.

I had it all wrong.

I used to call those kids spoiled, those parents rich, and that family loved. I used to. But there is so much more to people than these temporary items, that will one day fade away. How do we establish worth in things that will one day fade away? We can't. Though I do not receive as much as others do around Christmas time, I thank God for the reason for the season; Himself.

If your Christian, you may have heard this phrase: Jesus + Nothing= Everything. 

This completely true, because God sent him, the hope for world, on one starry night over 2000 years ago, to be the only way for us to establish a relationship with God.

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All have sinned. Romans 3:23

Who am I and who are you to think that we deserve anything? We all have sinned. It does not matter how many times, or how "big" or "small" the sin is, we all have done it. We are all disqualified to get to heaven, Romans 6:23. We are all undeserving of the infinite love from our creator.

But He gave it to us anyways.

I don't remember God, Jesus, David, Paul, Peter or anyone ever in the bible telling us that it's all about how much we have in this life. I thought I had to have things to really have the Good Life. Little did I know that God offered it to me already. In Philippians 3:8, Paul even says that he counts everything as loss or rubbish compared to the greatest gift that God has offered us all: eternal life. 

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Spoiled in this context means receiving things when you don't deserve it, and despite the way you act towards the giver, they still  offer you more. Think about celebrities, or that one rich kid from your high school (come on, we all had them). I never had much, so I never thought that I was spoiled...until I heard the good news. 

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16 

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

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 

Nothing that I've said or done could ever deserve this gift. 

I used to want what those kids and families had, until I found out that without Jesus, it's nothing. I used to be mad about my situation until I realized that with Jesus, I have everything. I deserved nothing. He gave me everything.

America, men, women, children, rich, poor, Mitchell, Christmas was never about Apple products we have laying under our trees, or how many gift cards to our favorite places to shop we receive. It is solely about Jesus. It's funny, because we focus on the gifts that we think we deserve and not the one's that we know we don't. We eye in on the items that have little to no value or importance instead of the perfect, everlasting  gift that God has given us. We constantly exchange the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator (Romans 1:25).

And while we continue to exchange perfection for imperfection, God still offers it to us, as if we have earned it. In the popular worship song, "The Stand," the lyrics to the chorus says, in reaction to God giving us this gift of eternal life, "What can I say? What can I do? But offer this heart, O God, completely to you."

I could not exactly find a scripture that matched with these lyrics perfectly, but every follower of Jesus Christ knows that there is nothing you can say or do the will be worthy of His sufficient grace. However, the most you can do, is offer your heart, you life, completely to Him (because He deserves it), just as He loved us perfectly and gave His son for us, while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8).

How will we respond to this gift? 

I used to wish that I lived the life that those families and kids live; a full family, looking like they had it all together. I don't anymore. I do not need to worry about anything anymore. I am living The Good Life...

Caught in His grace.

I'm Spoiled too.