Lessons from Vintage

Ever since coming to Whitworth I've been going to Vintage Faith Community Church. Being a part of Vintage has probably been the most important and most wonderful thing about living here so far. Every single Sunday God challenges me again and my experience usually goes the same way every time. First, God uses Steve's sermons to make me painfully aware of the utter hopelessness of my cause without a savior. He brings up my most sensitive, most hidden sin and presses on it kind of like those deep tissue massages which I have never experienced by sound extremely painful. Just when I feel that I can't handle it any more, I feel the incredible immensity of God's grace pouring out on that sensitive sin and for a moment I am just awed at God's incomprehensible love for such an unworthy person as me. Being able to stand on Jesus' righteousness instead of my own is the most freeing and wonderful feeling I could imagine. And I worship God, truly from my heart. But soon I start thinking about what the people behind me will think if I raise my hands when I worship. They will think I'm a good Christian, right? Oh and maybe that person over there will notice me because I'm being so humble about my sin. The fact that these thoughts have run through my mind disgusts me. My sin really is everywhere. When I worship, there is sin. My thoughts and my desires and my motives are all polluted by the nasty sin that tries to destroy me. BUT praise God because there is absolutely nothing in me that can save me from hell and absolutely everything in Jesus that can save me from hell. The depth of God's love is greater than I can possibly know and for that I can do nothing but worship and adore him.