COMMENTS
A question in my Bible study this week caused me to start thinking about how we all compare ourselves with other people. Even though it wasn’t the point of the question, my thoughts wandered to sin and how easy it is for me to dismiss it with the above statement: “Well, I’m not as bad as she is!”
NOTES
I’ve been told all my life that, in God’s eyes, sin is sin. For Him, there are no “levels” or “degrees”. SIN IS SIN. If I’m honest, my human mind cannot wrap itself around that thought. I don’t care what you say, that lie I told or the pen I took (stole) from work in no way compares to the atrocities that Hitler committed in the 1930s and 1940s. I’M NOT AS BAD AS HE WAS!
As I pondered all of this, I realized that I’ve actually been asking the wrong question. The question is not, “How bad is my sin?” or “Is my sin worse than that of someone else?” The question is, “Am I a sinner?”
Many people believe that they should be allowed into heaven if their good deeds outweigh their bad. So, what’s the cutoff point? 51% Good Deeds to 49% Bad Deeds? 60% to 40%? 75% to 25%? What if we look at numbers instead of percentages. 50 or fewer sins gets you in? 1000 or fewer gets you in? Taking the latter number, I get in if I have 999 sins, but I go to hell if I have 1001? I can already hear the cries of how unjust this “arbitrary” number is!
Our God is a holy and righteous and just God. Holiness, righteousness, and justice demand that a penalty be paid when a sin is committed. Even one. So, comparisons must be thrown out the window. Whether or not I’m a sinner has nothing to do with how I compare with anyone else. If I have committed even one sin, I have disqualified myself from Heaven and its perfection; and I have earned hell. And I will be bold enough to say that every one of us has committed MANY more than one sin!
So, there you go. Maybe I’m not as bad as “she” is or as Hitler is. But is that an excuse? Does that make any difference at all? Bottom line: No. I’m still a sinner. I still deserve hell. I still don’t deserve heaven.
Now for the GOOD NEWS!! God loves me enough that He wants me there anyway! Go figure! So the Three-in-One decided that Jesus would come in human form—100% God and 100% man—and pay the penalty for me. I don’t have to earn it (which is good because I can’t earn it anyway). I didn’t even ask for it. It’s a gift, and all I have to do is accept it. I can pay the penalty in hell, or I can accept His gift and spend eternity in Heaven with Him. Why in the world would I refuse a gift like that?!
