Cheerleaders

Caption: "A prospective Denver Broncos cheerleader performs a routine on the first day of auditions in Denver, Colorado March 25, 2007. Over 250 women applied for the 34 slots."

Now, I don't mean to be a jerk, but when I first saw this photo along with the caption, I shook my head in disbelief and grinned.  I mean, c'mon...how in the world is that woman going to be a cheerleader, for an NFL team nonetheless!?!?

But just as I began scoffing at this woman, I realized that I was looking into a mirror.

I say this because I know that apart from Christ, I am nothing.  Even that expression is insufficient to convey the notion, because even the words "I am" suggest that, well, I am.  A more appropriate way to put it would be, "Apart from Christ --"

I am unable to perfectly keep the law that God demands me to keep.  It is not because I stumble at just one point, but because I stumble at many, many points, which tells me of how wretched my state really is.  In order to be pleasing to God, I must keep every single one of his commands without fail, but since I cannot, I am forced to face my insufficiency, my utter lack, my insatiable despair.  God's law humbles me and shows me that I am incapable, ugly, and damned.

On my own --

But in Christ, I am justified.  I am pleasing to my Lord's eye.  I am cleansed of my inabilities.  I am redeemed.

I am.

Apart from Christ, I'm just like a rotund, middle-aged woman trying to obtain a place among beautiful, agile, stunning young ladies.  No matter how much I try, I'll never make it.

In Christ, I'm made beautiful again.  I am brought back to what I was intended to be.

Now it's time to make good on what I've been given.