Tuesday, August 10, 2010

For ALL have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God

That's part of Romans 3:23. Harsh, isn't it? We've all screwed up and therefore cannot be within God's magnificent glory. Bummer. This post is going to be my realizations that God gave me at the wonderful place called Pine Cove. So, if you're overdue for a reality check, here it is. Like it or not.

We basically fail at life. 24/7. It's inevitable. Every single day we do something (actually, lots of somethings) that the Lord is not happy with. We all mess up. And, prepare your mind to be blown for this one, but all of our sins are seen as the same. For example, if someone murders someone else, and you just lie to your mom, both of those sins are seen the same to God. Heavy stuff.

For me, I walk down the halls of my school, and think, "Oh, he drinks" and "Oh, she's done things with boys" and automatically consider myself the "better person". I mean, I don't drink underage; I don't use my body in ways that I might later regret. But I do judge. I do gossip. I do lie. I do disobey my parents. I am mean to my siblings. I sin. Everyone does. And it doesn't matter what kind of sin it is, because it's still sin. There is no such thing as "Holier-than-thou" because no one is better than someone else! When you get right down to it, we're all pathetic, dirty people who are inherently "bad".

That's why we need a Savior. He was absolutely, 100% perfect. Nothing was wrong with this guy named Jesus. And yet He was all, "Okay, Linley, guess what? I love you. I LOVE YOU. So I'm going to die so that you don't have to be punished for your sins and end up eternally seperated from me." And I think I take that too lightly. I've grown up hearing preachers and leaders saying, "Jesus took the blame for what you've done so that you can be with Him forever" and have always been aware of that, but think about what we needed, what we very nearly asked, Him to do. We asked a perfect, blameless God to DIE for us. Imagine asking your mom or dad or husband or wife or just anyone you totally loved to die for you so that you could live forever in paradise? I couldn't do it. I couldn't just straight up ask my dad to die for me. He loves me enough so that he would, but I can't bear the idea of seeing my father killed so that I could live.

That's what we did to Jesus. He is described in the Bible to be our father and then he goes and is brutally murdered and sometimes we don't even shed a tear when we think about the sacrifice. Have we become so numb to that? Has it come to the point that we just say a passing "Thanks" to Him, like we would if someone held the door open for us if our hands were full? I hope not. I hope that I can remember every single day that I'm not supposed to live forever in a place of sheer perfection. I have to pray that God is going to remind me that He loves me enough to save me from myself. From the destructive, disasterous, horrible, dirty, screwed up, person that I am.

But there is hope, of course. Because He died, we live. In other words, because Jesus came and took the blame of the world and was punished for it, we don't have to go to Hell (that's right; I said it). But the flip side to this great gift? Since we are alive because of Chris, our lives should be spent in total devotion to Him. It's hard to do that, especially since we live in the 21st century. But I find myself in a constant state of prayer. I'm always talking to God. And, really, it's easy to always be talking to Him. He's one of my best friends. And He always answers. It may not be the answer I want, but there is always an answer.

My hope, my life, lies in Jesus Christ. Where's yours?