Am I Worthy?

Not long ago, I bought a book called When It Hurts to Hope: Honest Conversations about Living with Unmet Longing by Rachel Miller. If you know me well, you may know I’m not a big fan of reading. But as a single young woman who’s currently living with an unmet longing, I found the title and topic of Rachel’s book intriguing.

When I started reading When It Hurts to Hope, I liked it. I felt like Rachel understood me, and I resonated with her experiences and observations. Partway through the book, however, I stopped reading it because I encountered multiple things that made me feel uneasy. This post addresses one of them—the concept that Christians are “worthy.”

Going Back to the Basics of the Gospel

I want to preface this section by saying my opinion on this topic may be unpopular—but I base my opinion on what I see in God’s Word.

I don’t believe that anyone is worthy of anything offered by God. I don’t believe Christians are worthy of His love. I don’t believe non-Christians are worthy of His salvation.

Yes, God creates all people in His image, which means they have intrinsic value (Genesis 1:27). Yes, He lovingly offers the gift of salvation to all people (John 3:16). Yes, Jesus carried the sins of the world on His shoulders so that all people who trust in Him can become righteous in God’s sight (2 Corinthians 5:21).

But the whole point of the gospel is that fallen human beings don’t deserve (and can’t earn) God’s grace. Because it’s grace. It’s not a reward we get for doing something right; it’s gift we can accept despite doing everything wrong. Frankly, the only thing we’re worthy of is eternal separation from God in hell.

I’m not exactly sure what Christians mean when they call themselves “worthy,” but what they seem to convey isn’t biblically true.

Worshipping the One Who’s Truly Worthy

Because God’s Word doesn’t describe believers as “worthy,” I don’t think we should describe ourselves that way. In the Bible, there’s only one who’s called “worthy,” and His name is Jesus. He’s worthy because He’s the perfect Son of God who willingly sacrificed Himself on the cross to pay for our sins. We didn’t—and couldn’t—pay for them ourselves.

1 Peter 2:9 (ESV) describes believers as “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for [God’s] holy possession”—but the same verse makes it clear that these truths and positions should lead us to “proclaim the excellencies of him who called [us] out of darkness into his marvelous light.” Praise, not pride, should flow from the hearts of those whom God has led from darkness into light. Christ alone is worthy of our admiration.

Before I conclude this post, I want to emphasize that I’m not trying to beat up on Rachel Miller. I don’t know the intended meaning of what she wrote in her book. I’m simply concerned that her book (and other content in the Church) will point people away from the gospel rather than toward the gospel.

Both Christians and non-Christians are unworthy of God’s grace—but honestly, that’s what makes it so beautiful.