“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ”
James 2:10-11 (NASB)
Would you consider yourself to be a good person? Most people do. There are a couple of reasons why this is so. First of all, we use the standard of other people as our measuring stick. We think to ourselves. “I’m not a “bad” person like an Adolph Hitler or Joseph Stalin or Charles Manson, therefore I must be a “good” person. The problem with that reasoning is that God’s standard of goodness isn’t other fallen people. God’s standard for goodness is Jesus Christ. The second mistake that we make is in thinking that God somehow grades on a “curve” when it comes to His law. Hebrews reminds us here that we only need to have broken One of God’s commandments a single time in order to be guilty of all of them. One solitary lie, one lustful thought or one second of rebellion against God’s authority is enough to move us from the column of completely good to completely evil in light of God’s perfect standard. We have all fallen painfully short of “good” (Rom. 3:23) and we are all in need of a Good Savior who can rescue bad people.
Questions for application…
Why do people often consider themselves to be morally good ?
How many commandments must we break in order to become guilty of them all ?
How does a proper understanding of our sinfulness drive us to the Savior ?
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