How Good? (Acts 20:1-3; Romans 1-3)

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)

I heard an analogy once about throwing a baseball.  If a group of friends of mine and I were to line up and each try to throw a baseball to the North Pole, some would definitely throw the ball further than others.  However, none of us would actually make it to the North Pole.  Similarly, no matter how hard we try to be perfect and good, none of us makes it.

One of my pet peeves is when people refer to others as “good Christians.”  The whole basis of Christianity is that we can’t be good.  If I could be good, then I wouldn’t need Jesus’ death for the forgiveness of my sins.  Romans 3:23 reminds us that no one lives up to God’s standard of perfection – everyone falls short.  You can never be good enough for God to accept you because within your heart lies evil.  That’s why we need Christ.

Christianity, more than any other faith system, recognizes the human inability to behave in a right way.  God doesn’t expect us to be perfect because it’s logically impossible for God to expect something that can’t be a reality.  Thankfully, it doesn’t matter how good we are because Christ came to forgive us.  If you want to know more about what that means, check out the sermon, “Trust Issues.”