The Bottom Line, Ministries Christian News, Articles, & Poetry 1 John 1:8 (NIV)—If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
James 2:10 (NIV)—For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
The above two verses deal with our sin. We all sin and we cannot help but break at least one of the Commandments. Even if we break one law, it is as bad as breaking all of them. One sin is as bad as any other sin to God.
No matter how good we are or how much we try to do everything right, it is impossible for man. No one is perfect except Jesus Christ. He never sinned. We can strive to be like Him because He is the best role model to follow, but we will never be as perfect as Him. It is impossible for man.
That is why we should be thankful for what Jesus did for us, so that we may be forgiven. (John 3:16). If it wasn’t for Jesus, we would have never had a chance to be reconciled to God or of entering heaven. Jesus is the only way to God, His Father. (John 14:6).
“Christians”, other names for us are “believers” or “followers of Jesus”, are out on a quest to bring non-believers to Christ. Jesus reconciles us to the Father. We were separated from God because of all the sin in us. God wants us to be united with Him so that we can fellowship with Him and be His children. We are not automatically His children, He adopts us after we receive Jesus into our life—which is being born-again spiritually. (Romans 8:15; Romans 8:23; Galatians 4:5; and Ephesians 1:5).
Asking Jesus into your life is the first step toward eternal life. It is the best decision you will ever make. Once you believe that He is the Son of God and He died for your sins, you will be saved. There is a life after death. There is a heaven and a lake of fire. Believers go to heaven and, yes, the non-believers will go to the lake of fire where there is eternal torment. God is love, slow to anger, has mercy, and forgiveness; but He is also holy and a just God who judges us. He will give out the just punishments to the people who did not repent. He gave us all second chances, and third, and fourth, etc.; and He gave us plenty of invitations to come to Him so that we may be saved. If we don’t end up in heaven–it is our own fault. God does not send us to hell, we do; because of our lack of obedience—being born-again is a requirement. (John 3:3-6).
No one is perfect, but we sure can live as if we are. Strive to become loving, forgiving, merciful, kind, good, joyful, faithful, peaceful, and self-controlled and we will have the fruit of the Spirit in us. We will come as close to being like Jesus as we can get.
Well said! All of us are guilty and Christ is the One and Only Answer! 🙂
Nice article. You spelled things out very plainly and with proper balance. Many people only like to think of the grace of God, but not the judgment they bring upon themselves by rejecting Jesus. I hope you get a lot of of unbelievers reading this.