Who is more guilty? The child who openly rebels and disobeys by staying out later than they promised or the child who obeys and complies and then sneaks out but doesn’t get caught? Who is more guilty? The person who gossips about a friend and spreads rumors or the one who prides him or herself on the extraordinary self-control that they exercise? One way or another it seems that all of us do and say things that we regret, things that we simply know are wrong. As a pastor once said, however, the essence of sin is not (primarily) the violation of laws but a wrecked relationship with god, one another and the whole created order.” Would you agree?
Apparently the Jewish believers, as well as the Gentiles in Rome, still had some questions about the law and sin, so Paul patiently explained to them that it would never be the keeping of the law that would be the bridge between God and man. Those Jews who outwardly followed the law were actually not in any better favor with God than anyone else. In fact, he wrote to them the famous verse, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Aren’t you thankful that this letter didn’t stop with those words? In fact, the very same verse goes on to say, “all those who have faith in Jesus Christ are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ.” He is the One that not only demonstrated God’s justice but made the amazing sacrifice so that we could be forgiven and our relationship could be 100% restored.
In addition to confessing your failures and your omissions of doing good when you review your day, it just might be a helpful idea to ask yourself this question, “Where did I forget God today? Where was He present and I chose to ignore Him?” Would you agree?
