Choklit Blog #57: How To Do Something Awesome

       At some point in our lives, every human has to stop and think “Why am I here?  What’s my purpose?  What do I want to do with my life?”  If you’re a Christian, you’ve probably always said “I know why I’m here.  I know what my purpose is-- to glorify God in everything I do and to do everything for Him.  Duh.”

       (This is kind of my favorite part.)

       Well, it turns out we were all WRONG.

       I came across Psalm 51:16-17 last night: “You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”

       At first glance, anyone would look at this and say “Yeah, we don’t do burnt offerings anymore, so what?  I already know that.”  But I’m a firm believer in hidden messages, like in good songs and Ted Dekker books.

       I love Ted Dekker’s books.

       The point of the burnt offering was to earn God’s forgiveness.  Jesus hadn’t died on the cross yet, so salvation was earned through works, not through faith.  This is the “law of sin and death” mentioned in Romans 8:2 (and in various different places throughout that chapter.  I love that chapter, by the way).

       So in Psalm 51, when David says that God does not delight in sacrifice and burnt offerings, he’s not just talking literally about burnt offerings.  Well, he may have thought he was talking literally about burnt offerings, but God had something more in mind.  It’s symbolic of all of our works.

       Myth: God wants us to do great things for Him and give Him credit for all of our great works.  Christians typically think that God wants them to go do something huge to help a lot of people, and then say “God gets all the credit!”


       This common misunderstanding leads most people to live average lives saying “Oh, I could never do that!”  If everyone would have just a little bit of faith, imagine how different the entire world would be right now.  (For tips on how to have a little bit of faith, check out Choklit Blog #56: The Fear Infection).

       Fact: God doesn’t want you to do anything great.  He doesn’t want your works, because you can’t do anything compared to what He can do.  He wants to do great things through you.


       Nothing great will ever happen in this world until people STOP trying to be great!  “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”  If you’re trying to do something great or if you’re under the impression that you can do something great, God can’t use you to do anything great!  God requires a broken and contrite spirit.

       I think we all know what “broken” means, but until five seconds ago, I had no idea what “contrite” meant.  According to my computer’s dictionary, it means “feeling or expressing remorse or penitence; affected by guilt.”

       “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)-- we’re all sinner, but until we realize that, God won’t use us.  God doesn’t want the deeds of the cocky, the intelligent, the powerful, and the confident-- he wants the heart of the broken, guilty, self-aware sinner.