I read Romans 3 this morning. Actually I heard it through my Bible app while walking early this morning, then read it the old fashioned way when I got to the office. I was struck by the following words.
"There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God. All have turned aide, together they have become useless. There is none who does good. There is not even one." "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
What a negative way to describe the human race. We don't understand. We are not righteous. We do not seek for God. We have all turned aside. We are useless. None of us does good. We have all sinned. We all fall short of the glory of God.
Feel better? I rather doubt it. But that is fine. The purpose of Scripture is not to make you feel good, but to give you the truth. No truth is more important than the truth that we are sinners . . . rotten to the core . . . separated from God . . . with no ability to become good enough to impress God.
Unfortunately this is a forgotten truth in America. At every turn we are told how good we are. We are encouraged to think positively about ourselves. We are learning to blame our failures on external things outside of our control. We look in the mirror only to reinforce the cultural message that we are so wonderful.
The Bible is a different kind of mirror. When we gaze deep into it we see a reflection not of skin, eyes or hair, but of the heart, with all of its sinfulness. This mirror cuts through the outward clutter and shows us just where we stand in relation to the God who created us. This mirror humbles us, breaks us, changes us.
This mirror points us to Christ. This mirror leads us to salvation. This mirror reminds us of just how dependent we are on Christ. This mirror is truth. All others are but an illusion.
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