MAX ON LIFE

5. My fiancee and I stayed up late last night discussing the meaning of sin and the need for salvation. We really have two different viewpoints. Isn't sin a violation of the conscience?

Actually, it is much more. One of the clearest verses on this question is Romans 3:23: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

Note the phrase fall short of. All of us know what it means to have a shortfall. Sometimes we think of a shortfall in athletic terms. The pole-vaulter doesn't have the strength to jump over the bar, so he falls short. We also think of a shortfall in financial terms. When we have month left at the end of our money rather than money at the end of our month, we suffer a shortfall. According to the Bible, there is another type of shortfall. We don't just fall short athletically or financially but, much more important, spiritually. We fall short of the high standard. We have inadequate goodness in our morality account. Heaven is a holy place, and "those who are not holy will not see the Lord" (Heb 12:14).

Simply put, we are not good enough to go to heaven.

So what can we do? Well, we can start doing good deeds. Perhaps if we do enough good deeds, they will offset our bad deeds. The question then surfaces, how many good deeds do we need to do? If I lose my temper in traffic, can I make up for it by waving at the next four cars? If I spend one year being greedy, how many years should I be generous? If I miss church one Sunday, how many services do I have to attend to break even?

No one knows the answer to those questions. No one knows how many good deeds it takes to offset the bad. A rule sheet can't be found. A code has not been discovered. It has not been discovered simply because it doesn't exist. God doesn't operate this way.

Is God nothing more than a heavenly deal broker who barters packages of grace? Does he spend his time on the phone with sinners, saying, "All right, I'll forgive your selfishness if you'll put two dollars in the plate and have your mother-in-law over for dinner"? Is that the kind of God we have? It's certainly not the kind of God we read about in the Bible.

God has been so kind to us. We have no way of balancing the scales. All we can do is ask for mercy. And God, because of his kindness, gives it. God turned over our sins to his Son. His Son, Jesus Christ, died for our sins. He did what we could not do so that we might becomes what we dare not dream: citizens of heaven.

By: Max Lucado