simple

I was just thinking about the message from church yesterday. The series has been dubbed "Simple," yet it is so profound at its core. There were so many truths I had heard before, but said in a way that made me wish everyone could hear it. You can hear it, by the way, right here.

I know there are many who think that since God is a loving God, that if you are a good enough person, you will go to Heaven when you die. And we often look at other people as our standard, when in fact perfection is God's standard, and let me tell you....no one I know is perfect. But we do that, you know? We look at a person and think, "Well, I may not be as good as him, but I know I am better than that other guy. I may not be a Billy Graham, but I know I am better than _____ (fill in the blank)." Our faith is not based on how our conscience feels at the moment. Being a good person does not put us in right standing with God. And I would think most of us want to be in right standing with Him. To be in right standing with God, we have to trust that Jesus paid the price we could not pay for our sin and then turn from that way of life. Yes, being good and nice and all matters, but it's not what gets us to Heaven.
Romans 3:21-26 says (and I love it in the New Century Version),
" 21 But God has a way to make people right with him without the law, and he has now shown us that way which the law and the prophets told us about.22 God makes people right with himself through their faith in Jesus Christ. This is true for all who believe in Christ, because all people are the same: 23 Everyone has sinned and fallen short of God's glorious standard, 24 and all need to be made right with God by his grace, which is a free gift. They need to be made free from sin through Jesus Christ. 25 God sent him to die in our place to take away our sins. We receive forgiveness through faith in the blood of Jesus' death. This showed that God always does what is right and fair, as in the past when he was patient and did not punish people for their sins. 26 And God gave Jesus to show today that he does what is right. God did this so he could judge rightly and so he could make right any person who has faith in Jesus."

Okay, so not my typical blog entry, but I felt the need to post it nevertheless. I'm glad God provided a way "apart from the law," because the problem was that no one could keep it, during old testament days or present day. We're all flawed! Thank God for his indescribable gift! : )