How About You?

5 min read

15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
— 1 Peter 3:15-16

I used to think that the meaning of life was to be a good person and to do good in this world. But then I started to see that I am not such a good person—at least not according to my own standards. And if not even according to my own standards, how much less do I meet the standards of true goodness?

Even with this understanding about myself, I was at peace with faking it and cruising through life, trying to steal moments of enjoyment and pleasure whenever I could. But in the end, what did it all mean? Those moments of enjoyment became a curse when compared to the meaningless of life in general.

Of course, there was my family. But dysfunction begets dysfunction and sin begets sin. The pain of it all became quite overwhelming when considering the meaningless of that pain and life, in general. Not only that, when the worst of you comes to the surface and becomes exposed, it is always exposed, always sitting at your doorstep.

I had lost all hope of finding happiness and peace.

But then, I found Jesus. It was more like He found me. I wasn’t even looking. I was just hopeless and hurting.

I wasn’t even looking, but there He was right in front of me the whole time, calling out to me with open arms. But I couldn’t see Him and I couldn’t hear Him.

Until I realized that I am not OK with hopelessness. I didn’t want to live the rest of my life hopeless and hurting, the worst of me sprawled out on my doorstep, not letting me escape the meaningless pain of life.

What if Jesus is real? Can I let go of my pride to give Jesus a chance with me? That one thought, and suddenly I could see Him and I could hear Him, and with that, hope.

And then even without knowing anything about anything about Jesus, I felt hope, and I saw everything in a new light. I could see, as if scales had fallen from my eyes.

And now, the worst of me has been nailed to the cross. No more hopeless and hurting me. There is just hope, purpose, peace, happiness. All because of Jesus.

How about you?

Father, Your love for me is more than I can comprehend. Thank You for loving me and saving me. I won’t try to comprehend why You love me anymore. Teach me to receive it daily. In Jesus’s name. Amen.