Romans 3:23 is a verse that we have heard quoted many times. It says, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" I think this is a verse that we, as Christians, can learn a lot from. It keeps us humble, reminds us that we are human, and reminds us that no matter how hard we try we will never deserve heaven. We are lucky enough to worship a God that is merciful and shows his mercy and his grace upon us daily. However, I do think that sometimes we use this verse as a crutch. Whenever we fail or mess up we fall back on this verse and justify our mistakes. I have heard people say, "well no one is perfect." or "it's no big deal everyone messes up." Both of these sayings are true but I don't believe that we then are justified when we make mistakes. This reminds me of Romans 6:1-2. It states, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" Just because we know that we will make mistakes doesn't give us an excuse for making them. Let's look at an example. Me being a sports guy of course I am going to relate this to some form of athletics so just bare with me.
Baseball is a crazy game. If you have ever been involved with the game of baseball you know that it is by far the most unpredictable game out there. Baseball is a game where a player can be so hot he looks as if he will have the best season of his career and then fall so far into a slump that he finishes as one of the worst players in the league. Baseball is a game where the best hitters in the world still fail 7 out of 10 times. Baseball is a game where NO TEAM (in Major League Baseball) has ever gone undefeated. In the Major Leagues a baseball team plays 162 regular season games. That is a whole lot of games and there is a whole lot that can go wrong during that time period; therefore, no team has ever managed to finish the regular season 162-0. However, I all but guarantee that if you were to ask any player from any team before the season, "Do you want to win every game you play?" I think they would without a doubt say yes. After all the point of playing the game is to win. So why would a player that knows that there is no chance of winning every game, say such a thing? Because he is striving for perfection. He knows that it is a far stretch for that to happen, but he doesn't allow that to let him become complacent with how he approaches the game. We have to do the same thing as we travel through life. Just because we know that we are not perfect and cannot be perfect doesn't mean that we can't strive for perfection. Just because Romans tells us that all will sin doesn't mean that we should be okay with our sin. We have to strive to be like the only perfect man to ever walk this earth, Jesus Christ. We read in 1 John 1:7 "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." We see in John 13:15 Christ says, "For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you." We also read in 1 Peter 2:21, "For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving an example, that ye should follow his steps:" This passage has always reminded me of footsteps in the sand on the beach. I remember when I was young I would walk down the beach and walk in other peoples footprints. Well, Christ has left his footprints in the sand and we are suppose to do our best to walk along that same path. We can never fully fill his footsteps but why don't we strive to get as close as we can. Why don't we quit making the excuse that we aren't perfect and see how closely we can mirror Christ's life.
-Ben Stevenson
"Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's heaven for?" -Robert Browning
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