Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
    there is no one who understands;
    there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
    they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
    not even one.”
“Their throats are open graves;
    their tongues practice deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
    “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
    ruin and misery mark their ways,
and the way of peace they do not know.”
    “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

• Romans 3:9-18

Blessed is the one
    whose transgressions are forgiven,
    whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the one
    whose sin the Lord does not count against them
    and in whose spirit is no deceit.

• Psalm 32:1-2

Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
“Blessed are those
    whose transgressions are forgiven,
    whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the one
    whose sin the Lord will never count against them.”

• Romans 4:4-8

And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. And they sang a new song, saying:
“You are worthy to take the scroll
    and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
    and with your blood you purchased for God
    persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
    and they will reign on the earth.”
Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying:
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
    to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
    and honor and glory and praise!”
Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
    be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!”
The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

• Revelation 5:8-14

When I was younger, nothing seemed to make my mother more angry – aside from any fault that I personally had – was to see the L’Oreal commercial, “Because You’re Worth It.”  She was highly legalistic, but she had read Romans 3 and understood no one is perfect.  She had read Romans 8 and had the pastor read the entire chapter in lieu of a eulogy, but then she was very proud of her humility.

It is odd that someone is angry at other people for thinking they are worthy of using make-up.  But the catchphrase haunted her.  My parents came to visit me and my family in West Germany.  I drove them to the Gerszewski Barracks where the unit I was assigned was housed.  We passed a L’Oreal office building, with the name on the side of the building.  She muttered how disgusting they were.  She could not let it go.

Since then, any woman who feels empowered to run her own company or advance to the top of a corporation seems to sing their catchphrase, or at least an AI assistant made that claim.  Note: These days, I seem to get an AI answer to questions when I type something into a search engine.  I guess it is taking bits and pieces from various articles online to give a cogent answer to the question.  Whether the answer is accurate would mean you would have to research the various articles on your own and even then you do not know if the writer of the article is telling the truth.  The Information Age is being replaced by the Disinformation Age before our eyes.

I had not heard the cosmetics company advertisements in a long time until they ran a few, very few, commercials during the Olympics, with some recognizable people saying a variant of the catchphrase, but my mother has been gone for over 13 years now.  One way or the other, it is not bothering her anymore.

But what bothered her in the first place?  If we study Romans 3, we find that none of us are righteous.  We cannot make ourselves righteous by our deeds.  The Scripture from Romans 3 that is copied above paints the picture of someone who is depraved.  Although Calvin never came up with the acronym TULIP, John Calvin’s theology about our sinful state prior to salvation is represented by the “T” in TULIP, Total Depravity.  Reading this portion of Romans 3 is fuel for that fire.

But then the Apostle Paul talks about those whose sins are washed away in Romans 4.  He does the same thing to an extent between his own troubles with sin in Romans 7 to introduce the topic of God’s Grace in Romans 8.  Too bad too many people skip from Romans 3 to Romans 8, that can wait for another day.

So, we are only “worthy” of salvation through faith.  Our sins are washed away as a result.  Thus, we can be “WORTH IT,” whatever “it” is.  It is ours for the taking by surrendering to Jesus Christ, trusting in Him for everything.  I heard an old Gospel song recently that said I surrendered all to Jesus, and in return I received everything.  Words to that effect anyway.  We surrender it all and He gives us the keys to the kingdom above and the Holy Spirit to be our guide here on earth.

So, I wondered what the difference is in the words “deserve” and “worthy.”  And one AI response was that there is no difference, but then other sources say that “deserve” can carry with it an earned quality.

Revelation 5 says that no one is worthy to open the scroll.  But worthy is the Lamb who was slain.  So, just because God has saved us from our sin, He does not make us worthy for everything.  I might look at the word “worthy” more in future.  But Jesus is worthy, for He was the only One capable of paying the price for us.  We are the ransomed, not the ransom.

And that leads to the title.  There is no reason why we should not feel “worthy” for our sins are washed away.  If you want to take that to mean that you can put a few hundred dollars’ worth of fancy cosmetics on your face, then that is up to you.  But we should not feel a need to drag around with a hangdog expression, wearing sackcloth and ashes, because we are not worthy of anything.

But do we deserve it?  That is where God’s Mercy and Grace come into play.  We are made worthy, in a limited sense, but we can do nothing to add the element of earning that worthiness.  Thus, we cannot deserve it.

That humbles me, and I am not “proud of my humility.”  I deserve nothing, but God loves me enough to make me worthy.  That makes me love God even more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.