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Loveless Park Baptist Church

While in college, I worked in a residential treatment facility for boys. The home that I worked in served about 12 little boys ages 6–12. Each day, the boys were graded on their behavior. At the end of the week, the boys with no “bads” found on their record were rewarded with a trip to the local convenience store. Candy bars and soft drinks were rare for these boys, so to receive one at the store was a special treat.

A few boys almost always received the reward of the store, but for most, it was rare and for one particular boy (let’s just call him Johnny), it never happened. Well it never happened until someone did something I’ll never forget. One night, just before we were taking the small number of boys to the store for their reward, I felt a tug on my shirttail. It was a little boy who made the trip to the store almost every time. He asked me a question I could not believe. He said, “Mr. Joel, can I give Johnny my behavior record this week and I’ll take his? Johnny has never gone to the store, and I’d like to help him get there.”

You and I are a lot like Johnny. Our records are covered in “bads.” The Bible tells us that “[A]ll have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). And it tells us just as Johnny’s record resulted in consequences so does ours. “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). You see if someone hadn’t stepped in for Johnny, then he would have missed the store. If someone doesn’t step in for us, then we will miss heaven, and we will not know God.

But Jesus did step in. He came to this earth and lived a perfect, sinless life. There was no “bad” in Him. But He willingly took our badness, our sin upon Himself and carried it to the cross where He died to pay the price for our sin. The Bible says, “[God] made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). In other words, Jesus took our record and gave us His.
I pray today that you have trusted fully in what Christ has done for you. If not, then He stands ready to exchange your flawed record for His perfect one and His righteousness for your unrighteousness.