Worm Theology

Excerpt taken from Wikipedia:

Worm Theology is a term used for the conviction in Christian culture that in light of God's holiness and power an appropriate emotion is a low view of self. Some might suggest that because of this view God is more likely to show mercy and compassion. The name may be attributed to a line in the Isaac Watts hymn Alas! and Did My Saviour Bleed (Pub 1707) [1], which says "Would he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I?" This thinking was prevalent in the days when this hymn was originally written, perhaps because there was also a higher view of God. Furthermore, worm theology can be attributed to a recognition of the ugliness of sin, resulting in contrition.

Some might suggest adherents of worm theology have inner wounds that they are not necessarily aware of, and such a belief just matches what they feel about themselves and sometimes others. On the other hand God detests sin so much because it separates us from Himself; it could then be argued that in our sin we are as worms in God's sight.

C.S. Lewis expresses the view, "Whenever we find that our religious life is making us feel that we are good-above all, that we are better than someone else-I think we may be sure that we are being acted on, not by God, but by the devil. The real test of being in the presence of God is that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object." (Mere Christianity 1952, P.124)

I have been wrestling with this lately, and been having some discussion with the pastors at BBC. The older I get, and now especially that I have children, I am noticing a "way of speaking" that I don't think gets as the heart of God for us, his children.

For example, the last line of the Lewis quote above, "The real test of being in the presence of God is that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object." Is this really how God wants me to view myself? If I (me, Phil Carlson in the flesh just as I am) "have been filled with him" (Col 2:10), should I really see myself as a "small, dirty object?" Wouldn't this be to the disgrace of Jesus in me?

For many years I used to think that the concept of Jesus in me was like eating food, that Jesus wasn't really a part of me, he was just inside me. If I have been "transformed" (Rom 12:2), there should be no divorce of Phil Carlson and Jesus Christ. I am NOT saying I am Jesus, but I have been completely transformed into his image, and I'm being made into his likeness as we dwell here in both kingdoms. I'm not solely who I once was, I'm something different.

Perhaps the problems therein lies, we are in two worlds. There is still the venom of the old man in me, yet I have been transformed, decisively forever. If I only view myself as being the old man, and Christ as being something outside me, I fall pray to worm theology, something I think grieves the heart of God.

So, the way of speaking I am getting at is language often heard at BBC. I think it spoken out of a heart of humility before God, and a way of glorifying God.

Here are some examples that I can recall:

• We are nothing, you are everything!
• There is nothing good in us.
• Love isn't you making much of us, it's you allowing us to make much of you.

There is nothing theologically wrong with these phrases, it's just after hearing them for 10 years there are starting to causing me to develop a condition that is unhealthy, namely depression.

God revealed himself as a father, so I think I'm warranted in drawing conclusions like this. When I think about my relationship with Corban, there are a times when he's disobedient and we have a break in the relationship. Once we have been restored, the last thing I want him to think is, "daddy sees me as a disobedient child who screws up all the time, and he wants me to dwell on the fact that I'm a failure." I want him to, and hope he does think, "daddy loves me unconditionally as his son, and he loves me even when I make mistakes, and once we are healed, he forgets about what I did, and wants me to forget about it too"

Just like a diet of too many carbs, with too few proteins and fibers is unhealthy, a spiritual walk that has too much depravity and not enough grace and mercy is unhealthy.

You are not a worm, you are a beloved child of God.