If you’re anything like me, at some point you have stubbornly believed you could do things on your own. You didn’t see a need for Jesus and felt you were plenty strong enough to make it in this world without any help or divine intervention. Let me be the bearer of bad news and the first to inform you, that this false confidence in your own invincibility is very short-lived.

If you are in need of any sort of reality check the solution is easy. Simply do you’re best to be perfect. Try your hardest to live up to God’s standards, follow the law and never succumb to sin. It won’t take long to feel the overpowering pull of your flesh, provoking you to do things you know aren’t right in God’s eyes. Even though you know your actions aren’t approved and properly aligned under God’s will, your mind will flood itself with excuses in a desperate attempt to ease the guilt on your conscience. It might even work temporarily until the earthly pleasure dies off and reality sets in. But at this point it’s too late, the decision has been made and the eternal consequences must be suffered.

Unfortunately for you and I, the punishment is severe. The Bible states in Romans 6:23 ” For the wages of sin is death”. Uh oh… The future doesn’t look so bright. You’re standing before God pleading your case, explaining to Him how hard you tried and how much work you put into being perfect. You remind Him that you sinned a minimal amount of times compared to these other people and when matched up against them you are clearly more holy and more deserving. You wait for his mercy but He doesn’t budge. Nothing you say can convince Him you are worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven. You have no hope and no way to gain approval. You appear to be eternally doomed.

Thankfully it doesn’t end there. The second part of Romans 6:23 states ” but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”. Whew!..What a relief! God knows that no matter how hard we try we all fall short of His glory. Luckily, for you and I he has a solution to our hopelessness and the answer is Jesus Christ. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of good works, so that no one may boast.”(Ephesians 2:8-9). This scripture makes it clear that salvation can’t be earned. There is no amount of works you can do to gain salvation. All works without faith are done in vain because it is through faith and faith alone that we are saved.

So please lay down your pride and accept the gift you have been given. Sooner or later you will realize that you can’t do it alone. Whether you find that out the easy way or the hard day is up to you. But there is a solution! Thank God for his Son Jesus through whom we have hope. Through whom we were undeservingly washed white as snow.

Categories: Life Posts

Tags: Bible, blog, blogging, Christ, Christian, Christianity, conflict, crisis, Epistle to the Romans, Faith, God, Good works, grace, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Kingdom of Heaven, life, Religion and Spirituality, sin