I recently watched a documentary series about the third President of the United States, the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, a man who penned those enduring words that shape our national ideals: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
Thomas Jefferson embraced lofty ideals and principles but did not consistently live by them. He died without freeing the more than one hundred enslaved people whose labor sustained his life and estate. Equally disturbing is his decades-long relationship with the enslaved woman Sally Hemmings, who was more than twenty years younger than he was and with whom he fathered several children. She remained a slave until her death!
It’s not fair to hold Jefferson to standards of the 21st century, but it is troubling that a man who inspired a revolution for liberty and freedom refused to apply the ideals of which he wrote to his own life mostly because of the cost to his chosen way of life. Do Jefferson's choices make his words meaningless? I don't believe they do. Rather, his actions should remind us that we all, even the ‘great’ are just ordinary sinners!
My purpose is not to excuse sin or minimize failure. Instead, I hope we can learn to extend grace to one another, to remain inspired by truth even when its messengers fall short, and to recognize that we are all striving toward a life that none of us has yet fully attained.
I love Paul’s words that were inspired by the Spirit.
“What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth
of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I
consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a
righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through
faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I
want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and
participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so,
somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3)
Did you read that carefully? Paul aspires to turn his back on desires for recognition, on his legalistic religious accomplishments, on his own pride so that he can fully know Christ. BUT he recognizes that he is a work in progress – ‘not that I have already obtained all this.’ He refuses to wallow in guilt or shame. He does not go back repeatedly to try to fix it all. He pushes forward focused on the grace of Jesus and the prize the Kingdom of Heaven. “I press on!”
Who among us can honestly claim to live every principle or ideal we hold in our mind?
In my 70 years on this earth there are some chapters of success and some of glaring failures. Perfection eludes me. I am quite certain that there are places in my life to which I am blind, moments of sin despite my best intentions, compromises of convictions made for convenience of the moment.
Yet I, like Paul, aspire to ‘know Christ’ and I press on.
The wonder of the Gospel of Christ is its reach, totally removing our guilt even as He inspires us to look higher. The Word tells us that we are ‘God’s masterpiece so that none of us can boast’ of our self-perfection or look down on those we might consider weak or failing. I confess that I am an ordinary sinner and I hold to the promise of adoption into God’s holy family through the inexhaustible grace of God, shown to me in Christ Jesus! The realization of that grace humbles me.
Are you conflicted, confused, or unsure of God’s grace?
Let God love you to life today.
Set aside the condemnation of Self or others.
Aspire to live by the Spirit and grow up into spiritual maturity.
Pray for the ‘beauty of His holiness’ to be seen more clearly each day
in your life.
The word from the Word says “So now there is no
condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to
him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin
that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the
weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do.
He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body
God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice
for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be
fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead
follow the Spirit.” (Romans 8)
Let’s live by the Spirit, no guilt, no shame – beloved Children of the Heavenly Father – who press on to greater glory day by day. Amen
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