two wonders

Another hymn that I came across during prayer meeting that caught my attention yet again. A familiar hymn by Elizabeth C. Clephane:

Beneath the Cross of Jesus
I fain would take my stand,
The shadow of a mighty Rock
Within a weary land;
A home within the wildreness,
A rest upon the way
From the burning of the noontide heat
And the burden of the day.

O safe and happy shelter!
O refuge tried and sweet!
O trysting-place, where Heaven's love
And Heaven's justice meet!
As to the pilgrim patriarch
That wondrous dream was given,
So seems my Saviour's Cross to me
A ladder up to heaven.

Upon the Cross of Jesus,
Mine eye at times can see
The very dying form of One
Who suffered there for me;
And from my smitten heart with tears
Two wonders I confess,
The wonder of His glorious love,
And my own worthlessness.

I take the Cross of Jesus
For my abiding place;
I ask no other sunshine than
The sunshine of His face;
Content to let the world go by,
T know no gain nor loss:
My sinful self my only shame,
My glory all the Cross.

Believers Hymn Book, Hymn 23

"Two wonders I confess,The wonder of His glorious love, and my own worthlessness". The thing that intrigued me was that out of the two wonders mentioned one I undertsood, the other ... just made me think! I understood why God's love is considered a wonder, because it just is, who can comprehend the love that God has for us? Its vastness is beyond the spheres of our human cranium. If we could, we would have a very different definition of love in our dictionaries.

However, the wonder of my own worthlesssness? hmmmm... let me see, it isn't exactly a wonder is it? How hard is it to grasp the idea that we are mere human beings full of flaws and weaknesses? Then again, maybe it is. If we really think about it, we humans do have the tendency to want to think that we are better than we actually are, as though we have something to prove. I know some people may think that the whole issue of having a low self esteem is bad and what not, so it is for our own good to think positive. I agree to a certain degree that we can't always be pessimistic; however there is a need for us to realise the fact that before the God who created us, we have nothing to prove, the only thing we can prove is how sinful we are and how much we are in need of a saviour. I guess that is why most people would rather shut out the fact that God even exist, because if they accept that, it also means accepting the fact that we humans are not as good as we think.

I suppose that is why in Matthew 9:13 the Lord Jesus says :" ...For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." and in his first letter to Timothy, Paul wrote "Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners...". I take comfort that Christ came to save sinners and not 'good people', because I know that by admitting my worthlessness, it isn't so bad after all; on the contrary, it is a beginning of a new life with the one who created me and to discover the wonders of His glorious love.