How Good Am I?

A few weeks ago, we took a family vacation to the Northwoods of Wisconsin.  One day, my brother Kyle and I decided to go into town and play some basketball.  We are average basketball players at best.  But that day we met someone truly exceptional, at least that’s what he would tell you.  He dubbed himself “the white Lebron James”.  For the few of you who have never heard of Lebron James, he’s one of the best basketball players alive.  Now James was very outspoken about his excellence.  He was convinced that his skill level was head and shoulders above everyone else.  The only reason he is not currently in the NBA, he said, is because he has not met the right people.  Despite the warnings of our demise, Kyle and I decided to play two-on-two with James and his friend.  Immediately preceding the contest, we overheard James telling his teammate the game plan: “Just get the ball to me and I’ll run circles around these guys.”  We decided not to play make-it take-it until after point 4 to make sure there was no run-away advantage.  So we played a rather quick game.  Final score?  11-0, our victory.  Though the score is entirely lopsided, it still does not do justice to how bad the white Lebron James was beaten.  He of course blamed every defensive mishap on his teammate, because he was too good to make a mistake.  Reality and his self-perception were far-removed from each other in every way.  He was terrible at basketball.  True story.
How could someone be so confident yet so far removed from reality?  The answer was clear to me.  James grew up in a small town playing basketball with his friends.  He never played someone who was good at basketball.  Everyone he played was even worse than him, which led him to believe he was pretty darn good.  After all, he won most games he played.  He was the best in his town.  He would watch Lebron James on TV beating everybody else, so the connection was obvious.  The problem was, unlike the real Lebron James, James was simply the best of the worst.  Once he was exposed to even mediocre basketball players, his false perceptions were shattered.

We are all “the white Lebron James”.  To call any human “good” is ludicrous, but we do it every day because we are using a relative standard.  We look around and see all of the evil in the world and think “I’m really not that bad after all.  I’ve never killed anyone, or intentionally hurt anyone.  I try to do good when I get the chance.  Surely God looks upon me with favor.”  The problem is, like James, we are the best of the worst.  Let’s look at it another way.

Would anyone criticize a judge for putting a proven child-molesting murderer in prison?  No one in their right mind would.  Why is there no gray area?  Because that man is so far from our standard of goodness that we have no problem condemning him.  Any rational person would admit that they are not perfect.  So in a sense this is the imperfect condemning the more imperfect, and it is perfectly just.  So what is the greater chasm, between the imperfect and the more imperfect, or between the perfect and the imperfect?  We raise our fists at God’s judgment because we think we are good, but we are not measuring with God’s standard.  God’s standard is perfection, and His righteous wrath is rightly poured out on the imperfect, in a similar way to the judge’s wrath being poured out on the criminal.  The bad news is, we are all in the same boat.  As the imperfect, we are all justly condemned to hell.  This is our sentence.

Why, you ask, can’t God just overlook our sin?  He must understand.  Give us a break!  I mean we were born like this.  We can’t help it!  You are right in that we can’t help it.  We were all born sinners.  But let’s look at the example of the judge and the proven criminal again.  What if the judge were to say to the proven child-molesting murder, “you know what, it’s obvious that you committed these heinous crimes, but I think you should get another chance.  I’m going to let you go free.  Just try not to do it again.”  There would be absolute outrage throughout the community and anywhere this case was heard of.  There would be calls for the judge himself to stand trial, because he has neglected justice, and is obviously not a righteous judge.  It is the same with God, except more so.  God is righteous, and cannot overlook sin.  He is fully just and cannot neglect justice.  We all stand rightly condemned.  We all have sins that need to be paid for.

The situation is bleak, but there is good news.  God cannot violate his justice, but He also loves us, and wants to restore us to right relationship with Him.  So He provided payment for our sins the only way He could, by the sacrifice of His perfect son.  If we turn from our sin to follow Him, the just payment of God’s wrath for our sin can be turned away from us and put on His son Jesus Christ, which took place on the cross.  What a sacrifice!  Can you imagine subjecting your only son to ultimate suffering and death?  This was the absolute last resort for God.  To say that there is another way is a complete slap in the face to God.  Why would he subject His son to such suffering if it was not the only way to forgive our sin debt?  No good parent would do such a thing unless it was the last possible option.

Yet, despite this incredible sacrifice from God, many choose to continue rebelling against God in their hearts.  In Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus gives a picture of the grim reality that most people will choose to reject God’s gift to them and pay for their own sins.

Don’t pay for your own sins by living a meaningless, unfulfilling life and then spending eternity suffering in hell.  Romans 2:5 says “because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.”  Three times in Hebrews chapters 3 and 4 it says “Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”  “Now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2b).  If you die today, are you paying for your sins, or have you put them on Christ?

Repent.  Turn away from your sin, and place your trust in Christ.  He calls us to give Him our entire life.  Upon putting your faith in Christ, you receive the promised Holy Spirit to live in you.  This is not about anything you do.  It is about submitting to God, and then allowing Him to live through you.  When you give everything up to Him, this is what happens.  It is the only life worth living.  No longer spend your life seeking the meaningless pleasures of this world that please for a short time and then fade away.  And in an even more dangerous scenario, do not spend your life trying to earn God’s favor, because you cannot.  If you had the capacity to earn God’s favor, he would not have subjected His son to punishment and death.  Enjoy your life in the satisfying relationship with God that you were created for.  A great place to start is by reading the book of John.  It’s about ¾ of the way through the Bible.

If you feel God tugging at your heart, trust in Him today.  It’s not about believing in your head, for “even the demons believe, and shudder!” (James 2: 19b), it’s about trusting your entire life to Him.  If you think you may have done this, but are not sure, read the book of 1 John near the end of the Bible.  It gives a clear description of what the believer’s life does and does not look like.  The works we do as believers do not earn us any credit with God, they are simply a result of us putting our faith in Him.  So if you don’t see God working in your life, turn from your sin and put your trust in Him today.

If you want to know more, or have any questions, please call me right now at 708-257-9214.  I don’t always get reception so leave me a message if you get my voicemail.  You can also email me at mdeezyh2@yahoo.com.  Thank you for reading, and God Bless.