“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Romans 3:23 NKJV
The most challenging admission we must make to ourselves and God is that we are sinners. We struggle to visualize ourselves as sinners because, compared to others, we are not as bad. God knows our nature, and this is why Jesus was sacrificed: to prevent our sins from permanently breaking our relationship with God. We live in a world with inflated egos, narcissism at all levels, corruption, slander, vile language, promiscuity, theft, and violence. So, we tend to imply we are not as bad as serial killers, sexual deviants and so on. We have been commanded to love God with our whole being and our neighbours, yet our behaviour continues to insult our fellow inhabitants of this earth and the creator of all life because we pursue this goal of love under our terms.
We face two truths each day when we wake: (1) We are surrounded by the temptation to behave contrary to God’s intent for us and so must be alert because: “Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8b NIV) and (2) we need not fear because “God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13 NIV). Simply put, Satan entices us to sin while God says you don’t have to sin.
With the Holy Spirit’s help, we can be forewarned that our actions would be deemed offensive to God, yet we often ignore this divine nudging because our cultural mindset suggests God is good, but the world knows how we should behave.
God knows our guilt can beat us down. Guilt reminds us of wrongdoing, and our loving Father wants us to know that if we approach Him with a “broken and contrite heart”, He forgives us. He will help us overcome the guilt and guide us to avoid similar experiences in the future. God desires us to live in harmony with His creation. He wants us to acknowledge we can only do this with His help. He wants us to remember that when we fall, He is there, full of grace and forgiveness for those who want it.