Donna, You Deserve the Best
That was the email “subject” from DSW Shoes. It jumped out at me. That word, “deserve”, says it all. The next line was “Here’s all the BEST (selling) shoes”. So that’s what I deserve……the best-selling shoes. I deserve them. Really? What makes me “deserve” those shoes? We live in a selfie, self-centered, and self-entitlement world. Don’t we “deserve” whatever we can get out of it?
We don’t have to look far to hear prominent cultural and racial voices declaring how much they “deserve” their rights, they “deserve” better, they deserve their happiness, and their pleasure. It’s all about their rights and what they deserve. We’re all going to die so let’s live it up without regard to morality, being respectful of others or what the consequences of our actions might be. At the root of everything is a sense that we deserve everything we want.
But, in all reality…..we don’t DESERVE anything, but, in the awesomeness of the ONE Who I don’t deserve anything from, I’m constantly reminded, how much God loves me. He looks out for me. He is ever present in building my character and my faith. God is patient with me (so incredibly patient). He never turns me away even when I’m not on my best behavior. I like to think that I’m one of God’s favorites, but surely I know I’m not….or maybe I am.
My grandchildren still want to think that they, individually, are my favorite. The truth of the matter is each one is my favorite ONE, individually, because each one is special and unique in their own way. So, we are to God – He adores each one of us because we are all one-of-a-kind originals of His. He makes every single sunset for us. He creates exquisite flowers and inspiring landscapes just because He wants us to see them. God’s love for us is endless and immeasurable. What did we do to DESERVE that love?
We did NOTHING. In fact, we deserve Him putting us in a corner with a dunce cap on for all our failures and tendencies to literally blow it with our sinful natures. “But God demonstrates His love for us in this: While we were still sinners (naughty kids), Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8). The Bible provides countless pieces of evidence that point to God’s unconditional love for us. WHAT have we done to deserve it? Absolutely nothing. We were born with sinful hearts, yet, He still loves us. God knows us better than we know ourselves, AND, though we don’t deserve His goodness, He loves us more than we can imagine and infinitely more than anybody could ever adore and care for us.
There is no other king that would give his throne to common people. There is no other father that would sacrifice His own child to save unworthy sinners. But that’s the beauty of His character. We do nothing to deserve His patience, grace, or love. There is nothing we could do to make ourselves worthy or deserve His love (Romans 11:6), yet He gives it to us freely. He tells us that we are not worthless and that we are His masterpieces. The only thing we can really do to “repay” Him for His love is to live a life fully devoted to Him — to Him Who DESERVES all the glory and honor and praise.
We deserve nothing—but we’ve been given everything. What good news! “He who did not spare his own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).