Day 316, or November the 12th. You are unique,
but not unusual. Our thoughts today come from
Romans chapter 3, verse 23. For all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God. And now the
big picture surrounding this verse. Paul's letter
to the church in Rome is generally acknowledged
as his greatest work, and comes first in his
collection of thirteen letters. It is also the
longest one he wrote, and it is to a church that
he had never visited. The first three chapters
make the case for our need of God's righteousness,
because by ourselves we are all short of the
standard God requires of us. Paul explains why
the Gentiles are in need of God's divine help,
and then surprisingly for many of his readers,
he goes on to confirm that the Jews are no better
even with the law of Moses. It seems probable
that this letter was written by Paul during one
of his stays in Corinth, and is a true ancient
masterpiece by the world's first and perhaps
greatest missionary, the Apostle Paul. And now
for today's action step. In this 21st century
world, which seems insistent that we are all
equal and have equal rights, it's refreshing
to read that we agree with God. Paul confirms
that we are all short of the standard required
by God, because we have all sinned. Then the
debate begins. Many of us would say that we are
not sinners, we are certainly no worse than anyone
else. Sin comes in three varieties, thoughts,
words, and actions. Thinking a bad thing, saying
a bad thing, and doing a bad thing. If we only
commit one of each type every day, by the end
of the year, we have amassed over a thousand.
For listeners to this audiobook, that means tens
of thousands so far, and counting. So it's impossible
to be pure and clean and acceptable. It is if
we remain independent. However, with God's help,
perfection has already been achieved with the
sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. So we are all
equally less than perfect, and we are all equally
offered the pardon we need to wipe our slate
clean. Now that's true equality. It may be time
to listen to day 21 again.