Success or failure depends on your benchmark
Romans 3: 13-18 " 'Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes.' "
Reading the verses above can lead you to imagine the person being described. You can envision a criminal or an adulterer. You can envision a dishonest, selfish person who is only interested in their own personal gain. You can envision one who has driven away, or at least deeply hurt, those closest to them.
The really sobering reality is found by backing up a few verses. Those verses say, "There is no one righteous, not even one"... "All have turned away"... "There is no one who does good, not even one."
The person being described is me. This may at first seem too harsh of a description. After all, I do good things, I don't intentionally hurt others, etc. I think I am a pretty good person, all things considered. But if you say these things about yourself, what is the benchmark or the standard that leads you to conclude that you are a good person? It is the words and actions of other people that I can compare myself to and come out feeling okay about myself.
This isn't God's standard, though. How do you feel about yourself when Jesus is the benchmark? Feel a little dirty and inadequate? Does the description of a sinful person seem to fit you a little better now? Jesus is God's standard personified, and by that standard, we all fall short. Further, there is nothing we can do to improve the situation. We can't try harder or alter our behavior enough to qualify by God's standard. Only God Himself can close that gap... and He did!
The perfect life and sacrificial death of Jesus Christ closed the gap permanently. The only thing required of us is the only thing we are capable of doing in this situation- graciously accept the gift that we do not deserve. God's love and our immense value as His children are demonstrated only in what He has done for us, never in anything we have done or could do for Him.
Reading the verses above can lead you to imagine the person being described. You can envision a criminal or an adulterer. You can envision a dishonest, selfish person who is only interested in their own personal gain. You can envision one who has driven away, or at least deeply hurt, those closest to them.
The really sobering reality is found by backing up a few verses. Those verses say, "There is no one righteous, not even one"... "All have turned away"... "There is no one who does good, not even one."
The person being described is me. This may at first seem too harsh of a description. After all, I do good things, I don't intentionally hurt others, etc. I think I am a pretty good person, all things considered. But if you say these things about yourself, what is the benchmark or the standard that leads you to conclude that you are a good person? It is the words and actions of other people that I can compare myself to and come out feeling okay about myself.
This isn't God's standard, though. How do you feel about yourself when Jesus is the benchmark? Feel a little dirty and inadequate? Does the description of a sinful person seem to fit you a little better now? Jesus is God's standard personified, and by that standard, we all fall short. Further, there is nothing we can do to improve the situation. We can't try harder or alter our behavior enough to qualify by God's standard. Only God Himself can close that gap... and He did!
The perfect life and sacrificial death of Jesus Christ closed the gap permanently. The only thing required of us is the only thing we are capable of doing in this situation- graciously accept the gift that we do not deserve. God's love and our immense value as His children are demonstrated only in what He has done for us, never in anything we have done or could do for Him.
posted by Robert Jory Allen at
6:58 AM
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