“Hey, Nobody’s Perfect!”
It is common today for people to excuse their faults with the attitude, “Hey, nobody’s perfect!” That is So True. People can only be expected to be human, and that alone means that we are imperfect, fallible, broken, and in need of repair! “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Rom. 6:23
Unfortunately, very few people take that reality seriously enough. Some refuse to accept that fact that humans have a problem; oh, it’s just a phase of the evolutionary process. No thought is given to the end of our journey when it comes to standing before God giving an account of our deeds (Mal. 3:16-18; Rev. 20:12), all too many take a different stance: they may not be perfect, but they are “good enough or all-right”, even better than most people are. I ask the question, “Are we good enough for God?”
The question, Are we good enough for God?, is answered in Romans ‘Absolutely NOT!’ Isaiah the prophet also states, “All our righteousness are like filthy rags.” (Is. 64:6). Paul explains, “all are under sin” (Rom. 3:9), because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (v. 23)” and then he quotes a number of Old Testament passages to support this declaration (3:10–18).
We convince ourselves that people are not evil through and through they do some moral good. People are capable of impressive acts of courage, compassion, and justice. But in light of God’s holy (morally perfect) character, which is the ultimate standard against which people’s goodness is measured, people are indeed far from perfect, no matter how many kind acts we perform. The good behavior Humanbeings turns out to be the exception rather than the rule, the majority of that is the by-product of trying to “look good”, and “table scraps from self-indulgent gains.”
The good news that Paul writes about in Romans, is that God reached out to humanity despite our imperfection (“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” Romans 5:8). Having placed before us the means of becoming “good enough”, God then justifies us by faith and we have peace with Him through our Lord Jesus Christ” Romans 5:1. Therefore, since God has justified us and made us acceptable to Him through Jesus Christ, he requests that we “Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1-2).
Paul then warns, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21)”, in other words be good because I have provided the means for you to be “good”! Looking at David and his faulty record we see that when it came to his standing before God, he threw himself on God’s mercy, trusting in His gracious character to forgive his sin and establish his “righteousness” (Romans 4:6), or right standing in relation to God. Psalm 32, from which Rom. 4:7–8 quotes, celebrates this delivery from sin that God brings about.
Do you rely on your own good works to establish your relationship with God? Rom. 4 says you can never be good enough. That is why God offers an alternative—trusting in Jesus’ righteousness to cover your sin and make it possible for you to know God.
|
