Things Jesus Never SaidSample

You get what you deserve.

“Salvation is God doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves.” Eugene Peterson

Life is full of transactions. We go to work and we get paid. We hand over some of that pay to get our favorite coffee, lunch, or a ride to work. A farmer plants and gets a harvest. A child disobeys and gets a time out. A student works hard, or doesn’t, and gets a fair grade. It’s no wonder we easily come to believe that we all get what we deserve. 

But there are just too many holes in this thinking. You’ve probably already wondered yourself, Did a hungry infant deserve to be born into a food-insecure region of the world? No, they didn’t earn that. And there’s so much more at stake in the “you get what’s coming to you” way of thinking than socioeconomic status.

Does anyone deserve Jesus?

We might say an “amen” when we read a quote like, “Salvation is God doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves,” but do our stress levels, grinding self-talks, and our latest attempts at spiritual improvement believe it? Of all the good in your life, is any of it worthy of a blameless, perfect, human (let alone Son of God) dying a painful death so that you can live a full and free life here and in eternity? If you produced perfect behavior, incredible generosity, and incessant kindness starting today—for the rest of your life—would you have earned what Jesus did for you?

You can breathe a sigh of relief.

Jesus never said, “You get what you deserve.” 

Jesus said things like, “Your sins are forgiven; Go and leave your life of sin; Forgive them for they know not what they do,” and as He hung on the cross, He told a remorseful criminal, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” The criminal realized who Jesus was and what Jesus was doing for him as they were both dying, nailed to a cross. The criminal had no chance to climb down and start reading his Bible every day, get involved in a church, serve his community, or show up on time for recovery meetings. Nope, he had no chance to earn what he was asking Jesus for—what Jesus freely gave him.

Like the criminal, we have no chance to earn grace or acceptance from God, but we have every chance to show Him our love, generosity, and obedience. Not as payment, but as worship. And doesn’t following Jesus as worship make so much more sense than adding it in as one more transaction in our day?

Consider: Which part of my life and faith are still a failing attempt to repay Jesus? What would it look like to live as a worshipful response to priceless grace I could never earn?