Point Mallard Parkway Baptist Church, Decatur
Growing up I had a basketball goal in my driveway. I had two friends who would come to my house and we’d play against each other. Alex would go on to be one of the best basketball players at my high school, eventually playing college ball. He could dunk, shoot better and was faster than me. It was only on rare occasions that I would pull out a victory.
Chase also would come and play, but he was nowhere near as good as Alex. He was shorter than me, slower than me and had the vertical jump of an ant.
So what if someone asked me, “Are you good at basketball?” What would my reply be? Well that depends on who I’m comparing myself to. Compared to Alex, I’m not very good. Compared to short, stumpy Chase I looked like an all-star.
This is the problem we all face when we ask ourselves the question, “Am I a good person?” It’s easy to find people (usually just by flipping on the TV) that I am more moral than. It’s easy to think that, compared to them, God must really be pleased with me. But we are not compared to the holiness of other people. The standard by which we are judged is the perfect holiness of God. By that standard, we all fall short.
Even the most moral person in the world fails to live up to the standard of holiness that God requires of us. So what are we to do? We need a substitute. Someone who could be perfect for us and offer us that perfection freely. That’s what Jesus came to do. He lived the life that you and I could never live; a life of sinless perfection. He died the death that we deserved to die; a death for sin. He rose from death, proving He was God and that He’s alive today.
Jesus gladly takes our place at the cross so we can stand before our Heavenly Father in perfect holiness. Not based on our works but on the works of Jesus in our place. He graciously offers this free gift of salvation to you today. Will you surrender your life to Him?
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