Thank you for loving us and giving us a solution to this problem of sin. Too often it is easy to think that I'm living a pretty good life. Like some have said, "Well, I've never murdered anyone!" But if we mess up once, we are not good enough for heaven. And I have definitely messed up more than once. Thank you that you redeemed that lost part of me, and then made me NEW! Not repaired, fixed up, with a glossy new coat of paint. I AM NEW.
Thank you.
Love,
Romans 3
What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. (even if you are a Gentile doing the right thing... if you sin, everyone is even) As it is written:
"There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands, (He is talking post-Jesus here. It's kinda nice to think that it's ok not to understand sometimes.)
no one who seeks God. (no one seeks God. God draws them near.)
All have turned away,
they have together become worthless; (If you turn away, even once, you are worthless in righteousness)
there is no one who does good,
not even one." (does this sound a little Ecclesiastes to you?)
"Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit."
"The poison of vipers is on their lips." (elch)
"Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness."
"Their feet are swift to shed blood;
ruin and misery mark their ways,
and the way of peace they do not know."
"There is no fear of God before their eyes."
(No one mourns the wicked...Goodness knows the wicked's lives are lonely. Goodness knows the wicked dies alone...no one mourns the wicked...) (Can anyone guess what I've been listening to lately?)
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. (Everyone is under the law, even those who have never heard it--they know what is right, which shows they know the law.) Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. (There you go. That is the whole purpose of the law. We don't become righteous through it. We become concious that we are failures. That would just be cruel, however, if there was no solution. BUT THERE IS!!)
.