During my sermon last Sabbath, I shared a passage from Ellen White where she discusses how the saved, upon seeing Jesus returning, ask, “Who can stand?” (Great Controversy, 641) Remember, these are the saved, not the unsaved. Every time we hurt someone we have stolen joy, health, hope… from a child of God, and these debts are ones we can’t repay. At Jesus’ return, our brokenness is brought into contrast with His glorious wholeness, and we ask, “Who can stand?”
This event carries a difficult message for us.
We need to come to terms with the fact that we have hurt people, will continue to hurt people, and will feel the weight of this hurt. We’re going to ask that question, “Who can stand?” knowing the answer is, “Not me.” I have more examples than I can count of ways I have hurt people, and I will collect more. Then we have the hurt we can’t even begin to count. We support people, policies, and institutions that hurt people. We buy goods and services that exist because the powerful take advantage of the weak. No matter how much we educate ourselves or work to do otherwise, we hurt people. By our action and inaction, we will end the day with debts we can’t pay.
But the story doesn’t end there.
Ellen White reports the question gets a response from Jesus; “My grace is sufficient for you.” Then, for a thousand years, Revelation 20:4 says, the saved are able to look through the records, see Jesus’ work on behalf of humanity, and judge–discern for themselves–that Jesus’ grace is indeed sufficient. They will be convinced that God has done everything to make justice actually happen.
What shall we do, then, given these events?
Should we give up and live lives of selfishness? “Jesus will take care of everything, so I’ll just care for myself.” How could we? The love of Jesus is in us.
Should we expect flawlessness from ourselves, and ignore the marred parts of our actions, heroes, and institutions because we need them to be flawless, too? How could we? We know our righteousness is like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6) and we know the question the saved will ask.
What shall we do? Love, repent, and improve when we can. Trust God to fill where we could not instead of beating ourselves up for falling short.
Go with grace!
–Pastor Jonny Moor