Good Lord!

As I was taking my usual morning dump in the bathroom today, I noticed a short stack of newspapers on the ground.  My mom subscribes to a New York Korean paper, and the 'Education' section (ha, definitely Korean) was on top.  On the front page of this section were photos of four Korean teenagers.  I didn't have my glasses on, so I drew it closer to my squinting eyes to see what all the fuss about these kids was about.

Lo and behold, underneath their pretty faces were their education specs.  They listed all the courses they took during their freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior years in high school, and as expected, the lists were riddled with "AP"s alongside course names.

This one girl (Ste-puh-nee) took seven AP courses during her senior year...seven!  My first response to this was "Good Lord!"  I think I took three AP courses total during my four years in high school...I didn't even know you could take seven at a time.  Ridiculous.

I put the paper back down and realized that Korean parents across the tri-state area probably saw this section of the paper and immediately reprimanded their kids for not being like those AP-crazy nerds...I mean, scholars.  I felt bad for the children of these parents, because I think all kids can relate to this experience of being scolded for not being as good as so-and-so.  Very frustrating experience.

Then I realized something else: it's a very good thing that God does not do that with us.

God could very well have sent Jesus down to earth as an example for us to follow, as the law personified, and as a standard we are encouraged and demanded to meet.  But what would that have done?  For those who had the smallest morsel of sense in their heads, this would have led them to realize that they are wholly incapable of meeting that standard of perfection.

Thankfully, God did not send Jesus down to earth for this demeaning purpose.  Besides, he already humbled us and created this sense of despair through the law.

Instead of pointing to Jesus and saying, "Why can't you be like him?" God points to Jesus and strikes him down.  In a way, he did the exact opposite of what our parents have done to us.  When they reprimanded us and asked us why we could not be like those genius kids, they were striking us down, more emotionally than physically.  But God, in his grace, chose instead to strike down his Son, emotionally, spiritually, and physically, for our sake.

Jesus is not the standard we are to meet, or the teacher whose teachings we are to adhere to without fail.  He is the slain Lamb who offers us a renewed relationship with our Father, who makes us perfect and offers us all the rewards that are rightfully Christ's through the perfect life that he lived.

We took none of the AP courses, but get all the benefits rendered by them, and the 5's on the exams just the same.

The beauty is that the moment we admit that we can never be like him, and the moment we put our trust in all he has done for us, is precisely when we begin to become what we just confessed we could not: more like him.

This is the sweet mystery of our gospel, our good news.

So, now I say again, "Good Lord!"

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit." - Romans 8:1-4 (emphasis added)