Thoughts of a Christian Nerd

I am almost ashamed to admit it, but if you had known me in junior high school, you would have thought something was wrong with me. I was the kid with the flattop haircut, horned rimmed glasses taped right in the middle and mechanical pencil in my pocket. Everyday, I would get up, get dressed, put on a shirt and tie, and grab my briefcase. (Yes, a real samsonite). Out the door I would go, down the alley, cutting through a neighbor’s yard, and walking by the football field to class. I lived about a block from school.

I was the smarty pants. The brainiac. The teacher’s pet. The kid everyone made fun of. I was THAT kid. (For the record, I was a total nerd before being a nerd was cool, just saying).

When my mother stopped me to ask me why I wore a tie to school (after all, no one else did). I told her I wanted to be like my father. He was a college professor, who wore a tie and carried a briefcase every day. I just wanted to be like him. Over the years, I worked every angle I could think of just to gain his attention and approval. I would have given anything just to rest in his love, rather than always feeling like I had to earn it. What I didn’t realize at the time was I didn’t need to earn anything. My Father’s love was a constant.

It strikes me that a lot of us do the same thing with God. We put our religiosity on like a shirt or a pair of pants or tie. We grab our Bible so that we have something to defend our Christianity with (my briefcase came in handy a couple of times when I used it to keep a bully from breaking my face). We parade around our loved ones with a nerdish, (Holier than thou) look written all over our faces. The image we want others to see is that we are right with God, and that because of our religious status, we have all the answers. Look at us. We are the spiritual brainiac of our world. God’s little pet always raising our hands in class just to get His attention and get called on.

The truth is that on the inside, we are just a scared and insecure little child wanting to be loved, wishing for some kind of peace and acceptance.

Why do we work so hard for God’s approval when we don’t need to? The book of Romans tells us that, “we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). Notice the words in bold type. Justified by Christ. When God saved us through grace by faith, our old nature was placed on the cross and killed. Dead. Sacrificed. Remember the Bible tells us that Jesus “was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities” (Is. 53:5). The key word in that verse is the little word, “our”. Yours and mine. What this means is that our sin became the sin laid upon Christ. God allowed His son to die as the sacrifice for all our sins – yours, mine and everybody’s, even the sins of the entire world past present and future. That’s a lot of sin. (The only one who could have bore it was God’s perfect Son – Jesus).

That’s not the end of the story. (Just like my junior high photo isn’t even remotely what I look like now). Because of the grace of God, our Heavenly Father sees the holiness and righteousness of Jesus Christ in our hearts when He looks down. We have peace with God simply, because Christ earned God’s approval for us. In short, I do not need to work at or put on anything. Jesus has already done that for you and me, for all of us.

So today, I want you to join me in just resting in the righteousness of Christ. Rest in the peace of knowing that God loves you so much that He would offer his Son as a gift and then place the holy nature of His Son inside of you. Get rid of the horned rimmed glasses, the smug holier than thou attitude, and stop trying to earn the respect of God. You don’t need to. You can’t anyway.

You see, one day in heaven, you and the Lord will be flipping back through the pages of your life like you might with a junior high yearbook. You will probably turn to your old photo and cringe. (I know I did).

I really tried to look like that? You will remark aloud.

And God will smile. You used to try to impress me. But you didn’t need to. I always like you better without the tie, anyway.