ZERO

12/29/2007

God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used
them to bring to nothing what the world considers important, so that no one can
boast in the presence of God. 1 Corinthians 1:28-29 (NLT)

The more God teaches us as we travel through this life, and the more we begin to realize who we are in Christ, the more we begin to understand that God and His wisdom is everything, and we and our wisdom equal nothing…AND, that there is nothing wrong with “nothing.” In fact, it is perfectly right!! Zero is good, because our zero-ness can be used greatly by God! Christ came to set us free, not to burden us with things to do, ways to be, and rules too follow! We are children of the King, but our pride needs to go right out the window so we can open up our hearts and let the wind of God blow in through His Holy Spirit in our lives…it’s then that we’ll see our numbers start to diminish and the numbers about Who God really is start to add up!

Jesus has done the dirty work. He took the sins of the world on His shoulders and washed us clean from the Cross. “It is finished.” Jesus stepped out of the glory of Heaven into the slime pit of this world for us, to bring those of us counted as nothing at all into the very presence of God. We don’t have to be anything but a “zero” to be allowed into the presence of God, because Jesus is a perfect Ten for us!! But why do we sometimes miss it? Could it be “Pride”? When we depend on own way of thinking, our own way of working things out…we think we need to be a somebody, an anybody…we want to know that our lives count and that we’re making a mark on this world. But God’s ways are not our ways, His thoughts are not our thoughts. God can turn our thinking around, He can change the way we look at success and at what He is calling us to be in this life. Our own prideful ways lead us down the roads of Perfectly Ridiculous Insights Deciding Eternity, when all of Eternity has already been decided and guaranteed by Jesus Christ’s death on the Cross for those who will believe! “God’s weakness is far stronger than the greatest of human strength.” (1 Corinthians 1:25b NLT) Understanding that we can’t, but God can, allows us to rest in Who Jesus is, not in who we are. We can be perfectly nothing, because He is perfectly everything!!

In knowing Who Jesus is in us, we begin to realize that whatever generosity, kindness, or love that flows out of us onto others comes from the Holy Spirit Who lives within. Whatever score it adds up to belongs to Jesus—He gets all the praise and glory and credit for it…so we can relax. Our “zero-ness” allows us to be the vessel God can use for His Living Water to quench the thirst of a parched world. If we so much as give ourselves a “one” in credit, trying to be a somebody, we will start to crowd out the power of Jesus Christ in our lives. By giving God full reign to work in and through us each day, He will show us just how valuable it is in His Kingdom work to be nothing in this world!

If I could multiply myself a thousandfold and then
give Him all, what would that be in comparison with God?
                                                              Bernard of Clairvaux