What I Wanted My Students to Know This Year

Just a note before I begin: I’d like to share that I started writing this devotion before I got in a car accident this past Wednesday.  I’m totally fine, but my car isn’t.  For me, this devotion has taken on a whole new meaning.  I hope it will have meaning for you, too.  Here goes.  :)

Recently, I’ve been considering buying a new car.  Well, a car that is new to me: a new-used car, if you will.  It’s quite a process, the car-buying process.  There are a number of factors involved, most of them financial: the total cost of the car, which make and model works for my life, saving enough for the down-payment, figuring out the loan process and setting up car payments, selling my current car…on and on.  But since I’m looking into buying a new used car, a car that someone else has driven before, there is another factor I have to consider: was the car ever in an accident and, if so, was there any damage to the car?  While a car might seem like it’s perfectly fine on the outside, possible mechanical damage as a result of an accident must be factored in to make a sound financial decision.  To some of you, this might seem obvious.  However, to others of you, maybe you’re wondering why.  If a bump shop and a fresh coat of paint make the car look like new, why does it matter if the car was in an accident?  But here’s the thing: it isn’t the outside of a car that makes it go.  It’s the inside—the engine, the transmission, the axels, the carburetor, just to name a few.  Sometimes car accidents do more damage to those parts of the car than the outside.  The outside can be fixed up and can seem okay.  But the inside can be harder to figure out.  Without looking at a history of the car, I don’t have a way of knowing about possible damage to the inside.  And I don’t want to buy a car that looks okay on the outside but is a mess on the inside.

Some of you might be wondering why I don’t just consider buying a totally new car in order to avoid this issue of what’s going on under the hood.  A new car doesn’t have any issues with previous owners or accidents.  A new car buyer doesn’t need to discover the history of the car because there is no history.  It’s a fresh start, a chance to avoid worrying about the damage that might have been done.  However, there is an unavoidable issue that comes along with buying a new car: the loss of value.  Simply by driving a new car off the lot, it loses a hefty chunk of its value because it is no longer a new car; it is now a car with an owner.  The dealer could no longer market that car as new, so it reduces the amount someone would be willing to pay for it.  But the drop doesn’t stop there.  Within a year, the value of a new car falls by an average of 10%, and after just three years, the value of the car will have dropped by almost 50%.  When you buy a new car, part of what you’re paying for is the label of “new”.  However, there is no chance you will get that money back when you resell the car.  That part of the value has been lost forever.

Sometimes I think we look at ourselves the same way that we look at cars.  We put ourselves into two categories: new and used.  We believe that, at one time, we were a part of the “new” category but have joined the “used” category as we have experienced more of life.  Once we see ourselves as a part of the “used” category, we believe that we have less value than we did before.  No matter how we appear on the outside, we believe that we are permanently damaged goods on the inside because we have done or been a part of things we shouldn’t have and that there is no way we can ever undo that damage.  We believe that we can fool people into believing we are still new (or at least close to new) by how we present ourselves to others and by putting on a new-looking exterior.

Are any of these statements ringing true in your head right now?  I would guess that for many of you, they are.  I’ve chatted with enough of you about big life questions to know that you are all in the process of figuring out how your choices affect your value and where your value comes from.  I also know that there are a number of you who believe you have done things that mean your value is totally lost and gone and cannot be reclaimed.  Let me tell you a little secret: those aren’t just teenager thoughts.  Those are questions that continue throughout life.

But here’s what’s true: we aren’t cars.  That’s your Tweetable for the day.  You aren’t a car.  I’m not a car.  The person sitting next to you isn’t a car.  I will say it again: we aren’t cars.  Here’s what I mean by that.

The belief that we were ever new and perfect and clean is a lie.  When it comes to people, there is no such thing as “new” and “used.”  You all know that we sin.  This gets discussed constantly.  But I want to create a distinction between two words: sinning and sinners.  Sinning is something we do.  Sinners is what we are.  We sin because we are sinful, not the other way around.  If sinning is something we do here and there, then it is something we can undo, and it is our job to correct that action ourselves.  Because sinners is what we are, it’s an ingrained part of our identity that cannot be corrected with simple action.  We can’t stop sinning and we can’t make ourselves less sinful.

I know you all know these things.  We as adults don’t need to remind you that you make mistakes and do the wrong thing.  You all know that you do.  But rather than hearing that and assuming it means the worst, I want you to look at it from a different angle.

Because we ARE sinners and don’t just DO sins…over time, we cannot become a worse sinner than we were before.  My car had less damage on Tuesday than it did on Wednesday.  You don’t work this way.  Your sin is not a debit account.  You don’t start with a certain amount of good and then slowly chip away at that total with each sin you commit.  When you were born (really, when you were conceived) you were already the worst sinner that you would ever be, and your sin is a straight line from conception to death.

“But Miss Carson,” you say, “that doesn’t make me feel any better.  I’m still hearing you say over and over that I’m a sinner.  I know I do bad things.  I know I sin.  And that feels like a burden.”  I’ve felt that burden, too.  But I have learned that the burden I feel is because somewhere deep inside, I have it in my head that I am responsible for fixing it.  That I am the one who has to make it right.  That I am the one who has to fill the gap.  It’s the burden of carrying my own cross.  I can’t deny that sin can bring earthly consequences that we have to deal with, but hear me this morning, please: when it comes to your eternal soul---the part of you that will live forever---you don’t have to do ANYTHING.  You are not responsible for paying for your own sins.  You don’t have to fill that gap.  Jesus already carried your cross.  In the same way that your sin is a straight line from conception to death, Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is a straight line, too.  It’s enough to cover your line of sin and it’s enough to last your whole life on earth.  You are free from the burden of sin because of who Jesus is, and when you feel that burden, you also have the freedom to go to Him and ask Him to take that burden away.  The best part?  He has taken it away already.  When He said “It is finished” on the cross, it was finished.  Done.  Over.  For eternity.

When Jesus did this for you, when He actively chose to take your place on the cross and forever fill the gap that was between you and God, He paid the full price for your life.  Even more than that, He set the price for your life.  You are worth Jesus.  And unlike a car, your value doesn’t change based on usage, damage, or age.  You do not and cannot lose value the longer that you’re alive or the more mistakes you make, because if Jesus’ sacrifice is a straight line, your value is one, too.  He paid one price at one revolutionary moment in history, and nothing you do or don’t do, become or don’t become, choose or don’t choose can change that value.  It’s a done deal; it’s finished, too.  Let me say it again: YOU ARE WORTH JESUS.

You are not a used car, a new car, a damaged car, or an abandoned car.  You are a valuable individual, created by God the Father.  You are a redeemed child of God, washed in the blood of His Son, Jesus.  You are a precious part of God’s family, protected and led by the Holy Spirit.  You are loved.  You are forgiven.  You are free.  Live in that freedom today.