I Am Worthy!

Sometimes I’ll run across a book that phrases something just a little differently and it will make me think more deeply about the subject. This week that happened with Shame and Grace, by Lewis B. Smedes. Here’s what he wrote, “You can tell that grace is gracious if it makes you feel better for having it, feel lighter, and, when it comes down to it, feel like the worthy human being you are. The question is: are we accepted by grace only in spite of our unworthiness or are we also accepted precisely because we are worthy? …Is it possible that we could be undeserving of grace and yet worthy of it? …Think of the difference this way. If I deserve some good thing that comes my way, it is because I did something to earn it. If I am worthy, it is because I am somebody of enormous value” (119-120).

Perhaps, like me, you may still be inclined to object “I’m not worthy!” But consider these verses:

• “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God…” (1 John 3:1).
• “In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).
• “But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Those who are parents probably remember the birth of your child vividly. What did that infant do to deserve your love? Absolutely nothing. But are they worthy of your love? Of course. The fact that you love them makes them valuable in your sight. They belong to you and so they are worth more than any possession.

Dennis Jernigan comments on a couple different albums, “[If someone] came for me and risked their life for me that would bestow upon me great value… I must have been worth something for [Jesus] to lay aside the riches of heaven for me.” God so loved me that He sent Jesus to the cross on my behalf. I am worthy because God chose me and loves me. In myself I am undeserving of such mercy and grace, but Jesus filled the gap for me. I can’t do anything to deserve God’s love and acceptance, but I am worthy of it anyway! My worth is not determined by anything I will ever do. My worth is determined by God alone.

At the end of his book, Smedes includes the following personal statement of faith, which I believe is worth reprinting in its entirety:

• I believe that the only self I need to measure up to is the self my Maker meant me to be.
• I believe that I am accepted by the grace of God without regard to my deserving.
• I believe that I am accepted along with my shadows and the mix of good and bad I breed in them.
• I believe that I am worthy to be accepted.
• I believe that grace has set me free to accept myself totally, and without conditions, though I do not approve of everything I accept.
• I believe that nothing I deserve to be ashamed of will ever make me unacceptable to God.
• I believe that I can forgive anyone who has ever infected me with shame I do not deserve.
• I believe that I may forgive myself for anything that I have ever done to shame myself or another person.
• I am gratefully proud of being who I am and what I shall be.
• I believe that the grace of God heals the shame I do not deserve and heals the shame I do.
• I believe that grace is the best thing in the world.