Weekly Words with Brandon Moore- National Quitter's Day Was Last Friday... How Are You Doing??
Did you know we have a national holiday called “Quitter’s Day” in honor of everyone who has quit their New Year’s Resolutions?
Here’s the description from nationaltoday.com – “Quitter’s Day is set aside to recognize those who set new year goals and fail to achieve them — and to encourage and equip them to try again and ultimately succeed.”
Ironically, that’s kinda what I’m here to do today, but not the way you might think.
Quitter’s Day is always the 2nd Friday in the month of January (January 9th this year). Data shows that after two weeks a large percentage of people have dropped out on their New Year’s Resolutions and they’re back to where they started just a few weeks prior.
It’s January 12th, which means we’ve blown past Quitter’s Day and chances are if you started a Bible reading plan on January 1st, you’ve already quit–or at least missed a day–and feel deeply embarrassed for it.
There’s a subtle, quiet, voice that runs in the back of our minds when we frequently miss our Bible reading times and certainly when we quit on an effort we were once highly motivated to complete. That voice–although it’s quiet, it’s aggressive. Its tone is accusatory and angry.
Because the data shows that we can’t stay committed to a Bible reading plan, we buy the lies being dished out to us from that voice. We start to believe we’re failures of Christians. We believe God is most likely upset with us and ready to be done with us. We believe, more or less, that we’re some kind of second rate Christian that will never quite get it right.
Take a break from believing those lies for a second and believe what I’m about to tell you.
There are two types of people who have walked the earth.
Jesus.
And everyone else.
That “and everyone else” category is full of sinners, failures, and wildly inconsistent men and women who don’t have much to offer God. There’s not a person that’s ever lived, outside of Jesus, that the Father marvels at by saying, “Wow, they’re pretty impressive!”
Everything good, holy, and worthy of admiration is wrapped up in Jesus Christ himself.
Believing this, fully, is really good news for us and 2 Peter 1:1 proves it. Here’s the verse:
1Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ
–2 Peter 1:1 (ESV)
In all respects, Peter is that guy. Leader of the disciples, preached the first sermon in church history, and was one of the closest men to Jesus during Jesus’s earthly ministry.
It’s easy to compare ourselves to Peter. We almost assume he’s in a different category that we’ll never reach. Like he, and every other spiritual leader we know, has some kind of special connection with God that we’ll never be able to reach.
Yet, what does Peter say? To those who have obtained a faith of, what? Of equal standing with ours.
He says to the hopelessly inconsistent men and women of his day, “Hey, we’re in the same place before God.” And what gives us that same standing before God? The righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.
To have trusted Christ for salvation means you are now covered by Him.
My daughters go to the Little Gym and after each session they run to the front desk to get a stamp on both hands. They’re always fired up for the rest of the day about their stamp. It’s proof they did something awesome that day, and it’s proof they were part of the Little Gym experience.
When we come to Christ we are stamped with His righteousness. Now and for all eternity we’re covered in His righteousness–it’s proof we’re united with Him. We’re with Him, and He’s with us. It’s proof that when we understood our shameful nakedness caused by sin and called upon His name for salvation, He clothed us with His perfect righteousness.
And now because of that righteousness we can stand before God–the same way Peter and the rest of the apostles did. Our faith is the same as theirs.
Which means, that small voice in the back of your mind is a liar. There are no second rate Christians because Christ and His finished work is the defining factor for all of us.
As you reflect on your shortcomings and you start to accuse yourself of being unlovable by God, I want you to ask a different question.
Ask yourself, “Has God the Father stopped loving His Son Jesus Christ?”
The answer to that question is no, absolutely not. He never will stop loving His Son.
And if He hasn’t stopped loving His Son, He will not stop loving those who have trusted in His Son for salvation.
“I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
–Jesus’s High Priestly Prayer in John 17:26
The only way to develop a consistent relationship with God is to come to Him on His terms–and His terms revolve around believing deeply how much we’re loved by Him. The moment we set our minds on proving to Him how we should be loved by Him we have rejected God’s methods and will soon fall away.
So, show yourself some grace, if you’ve joined the millions celebrating Quitter’s Day then you’re just like everyone else that’s walked the earth aside from Jesus.
Just make sure you’re also among the few who believe God as His Word and receive His love and participate in His life this year.
Have a great week,
Brandon Moore, Dean of Spiritual Development