I've been thinking a lot lately about the question, how good is good enough. Now that's a fairly rhetorical question in my mind but it does get me thinking. What does God say about our attempts at goodness? I believe he would use one word to answer that - lame.
Our attempts to justify our actions or to make excuses or to just good enough to get by are ridiculous! Now understand that I'm pointing my finger at myself just as much as I am to everyone else. We all do it! It has been a problem since well when Adam and Eve first at that crazy fruit in the garden. We love making excuses. We seem to get energized by thinking that we can lower the standard that God has for us.
But we can't. There's no lowering the standard. Even if you lived a perfect life up until just 3 minutes ago you don't meet the standard. That's because the standard is perfection. It's absolute, complete, total perfection. No questions asked. No excuses. No slip-ups! Perfection!
This morning I wandered through the book of Amos. (I know a fairly unlikely place to find me this morning, but I'm glad that we met today.) You see Amos records some of God's words to the people of various countries and the gist is the same for all of them. He says that even for only three or four sins he cannot turn his back.
That means when it comes to obeying the law - living the perfect life - we have one chance. There are no do-overs. There are no repeats or erasers. It's a one time shot. Perfection or imperfection there's no gray area. It's kind of like being pregnant - you are or you aren't. I've never met a woman who said that she was "kind of pregnant." That's just absurd isn't it!
So this means that you, me and everyone else on the face of this blue and green ball called earth are imperfect because we just can't live up to God's standards. I know that sounds pretty heavy on the law and it is, but stay with me. Here's where things get fun!
True the standard is perfection, and true we can't live up to that standard. But the church wasn't built on that message. The church was founded on the message of who Jesus was. If you look at Peter and the confession of faith that he gave to Jesus - You are the Christ (savior) the son of the living God. Jesus then says that this message will/must be the foundation of the church. That means that Jesus death and resurrection have bridged the gap between our inability and God's standard.
Jesus, God's own son, became a man just like you and me. He was forced to live under the same obligations and standards of God that we are. And the amazing part is - he did! He lived his entire life and never fell prey to the temptations to sin that we are bombarded with every day. So we are not right with God.
Because of Jesus we are seen by God as perfect. We are counted right with God because of the perfected life and death that Jesus lived. Amazing! Grace! That's the message that changes the game eternally. That's the message that a world distant from God needs to hear. That's the message that we have been given to share with people where we live, work, and play.
Lord make us bold to share your truth today. Amen.
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