Jason Silver

Saturday, March 20th, 2021

Holiness and Failure

In Psalm 26, King David lists all the things that he thinks set him apart from others; the qualities which make him righteous in God's eyes. He pleas to God for vindication, hoping to convince God that he is worthy of justice.

It's a common perspective; we all do it, and we'd all be wrong.

You see, to God, our most valiant efforts to be a good person are nothing near his requirement of purity. If it seems unfair that God should hold such an ideal, then you really don't understand the intense holiness which God represents. His holiness is like the hottest refining furnace — it's his very essence! Who can stand next to it, without being burned away?

He has made His character clear to us throughout the Bible. Even the most trivial sin represents a chasm between perfection and imperfection. We're bent toward failure, and there's nothing any of us can do to change that fact.

So rather than argue our case, trying to tweak our resume to put us in the best light, we need to come to Him through the agency of Jesus! God came to earth as man, lived the ideal human life, and in doing so, created a route for us to follow. We stand behind him, looking over his shoulder into the face of God himself.

So own your sin! Be honest about your failings. Confess to God and to man that you have given up trying to be the ideal, and instead put your life under the headship of Jesus. In that simple act you become righteous by proxy!

But it doesn't stop there. Believe it or not, when Jesus takes up residence in our being, we start to act like Him. We start to love like Him. We start to hate sin like He does! We become transformed into "little Christs," i.e., Christians.

God, help us to be truthful with ourselves, to confess our sin, to welcome Jesus into our homes, to be transformed by the power of your Holy Spirit!

Amen.