The Best Sinner in Hell
May 26
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
James 2:10
The judge’s glance shifted from the defendant to the file in his hands. These kinds of cases always caused inner conflict; compassion verses the wisdom of required justice. He’d read the file in his chambers before entering the courtroom. The defendant needed to get home to see his dying mother. She’d had only hours to live. He’d borrowed a friend’s car but had no money for gas so he’d pumped twenty dollars worth of gas at a local station and left without paying. He’d broken the law hoping the judge would understand.
“Son,” the judge said. “What you did was wrong and I cannot allow it to go unpunished. I know why you did it, but your reasoning is in error. You broke the law and no matter how justified the violation might seem to you, you must be held accountable. Therefore, you will serve six months Community Control Sanction; you must pay restitution to the filling station owner, and you will serve two hundred hours of community service at his place of business. Case closed,” he said with finality.
†
There is a real danger in rationalizing sin we deem as ‘SMALL’ or ‘INSIGNIFICANT’, by telling ourselves they are of no consequence. We believe that those sins should not meet the ineligibility terms God has set in place. And in that arrogant mindset we sentence ourselves to Hell. The fallacy of our own goodness, as well as the defendant’s reasoning in today’s story, is worthless.
Today’s text says if we have committed one sin we are guilty in God’s eyes. The first part of Romans 6:23 says the penalty for that sin is eternal death. But in the second part of verse 23 God provides the pardon for our sin through Jesus Christ!
We can lay claim to our own goodness; to which God will say, “You will be one of the best sinners in Hell,”or, we can lay claim to the perfect goodness of Jesus Christ and spend eternity with our Creator.
Prayer
“I choose to not be one of the best sinners in Hell, Lord. Please, forgive the sin in my life. Thank You, Jesus, for taking that judgment in my place. Amen.”
No comments:
Post a Comment