Some of us have lived some pretty wicked lives before we became Christians.  Others of us were born into a Christian family that trained us to live good lives.  Regardless of our background, the truth is that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23).  This is one of the great principles of life that everyone must accept.  We are all lawbreakers – James 2:10 “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.”  “Where is boasting then? It is excluded.” (Rom 3:27)  There is no room for pride that we were better than others.  We have a righteous God who has the right to pass the sentence of death on every one of us for our sins.

We know that we cannot do enough good deeds on our own to be declared righteous before God.  Some people wait to become a Christian until they have become a “good” person that would be worthy of being a Christian.  How ridiculous!  “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags” Isa 64:6.  God takes every one of us that comes to him in faith and cleanses us.  Isa 1:18 “’Come now, and let us reason together,’ Says the Lord, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.’”

Rom 3:22-26 “For there is no difference;  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,  to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”  We are totally dependent on God and the sacrifice of atonement (propitiation) of Jesus Christ to have our sins taken away.  Other religions do not have this propitiation – not Muslim, not Buddhism, not Hinduism.  Only through faith in Jesus Christ and the sacrifice of the sinless Son of God can we be declared just before God.  God gives us righteousness through our faith in Jesus Christ.

Let us give glory to God for our redemption, our atonement, our cleansing, our forgiveness, and our justification before him!