During my quiet time today I was reading in Romans... and the thing that I was being hammered with today is that humanity is so sinful. That is a vague and general statement but when you apply it on a personal level it begins to make sense; I am sinful. You are sinful.
Paul puts it like this in Romans 3 where he quotes the Psalmist, "there is no one righteous, not even one; no one seeks God... there is no fear of God before their eyes." There is not a person on the planet now or ever that can get the title righteous (except One). And when we look at the Law we are brought to the realization that we are sinful, I am sinful and God would be just in punishing me severely. So, what do we do? We look to our Savior. We look to Jesus to be our remedy.
But, that is not so easy. It is humbling for people to say to themselves that they are 'wicked' (quoting Paul again) and that they deserve punishment. It is so hard to submit to that truth and I would say even harder for 'religious' people that attend church and tithe and go to small group and what not. It is harder for them to see that they are sinful because after all they are good people.
Mark Driscoll puts it like this in his book Vintage Jesus, "religious people often read the bible looking for ways to be the hero of their own life rather than reading it to see themselves as the villain and Jesus their hero." And that is the truth that hit me this morning. I am a villain and Jesus is my hero. Jesus rescues me from my self. Jesus takes my punishment by faith and gives me His right standing with God by faith and justifies me before the Father by faith. But, I am a thief that doesn't deserve any of those things!?
What a humbling and liberating truth! Jesus is my hero. I'm a crook but Jesus is my hero.
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