“I love the Lord,” I heard someone proclaim. However, the question is, which one? Is it your personal version having parsed the Scripture, taking out that which suits you–all things pleasant, of course. These ready-made renditions are never severe, just, or convicting. These partial models do not inculcate a sense of shame for falling short each day from the Glory of the one hundred percent perfect true, and Almighty God. Rather, should we refrain from certain things and do particular things, all is well–on the outside? There was no need for the Lord of Glory, Jesus Christ, to come down from the heavenly courts, set aside His unique vestments, live on this earth, teach, subject Himself to ridicule, scorn, and even death to rise again and ascend back into the bosom of the Heavenly Father in order to save sinners, the unjust. The merit was in us lowly, finite creatures the whole time to put ourselves right in the eyes of the Holy Father. It is a simple case of morality—do this, don’t do that, quite easy, really. All one has to do is abide in the ten commandments.
We dismiss this fallacious argument for what it is, a blatant lie, a lack of understanding what sin is and its powerful, unyielding grip on the minds of human beings. Take one who claims to “love the Lord” and set them in New York city, lower Manhattan in times square. Advertise that this person’s thoughts will translate via the ticker tape simulated monitor for all to distinguish and then proceed with the demonstration. Will the individual in question be able to stand with head up, chin out and make the claim to be a righteous person, worthy in the eyes of a Holy God having their deepest, inner thoughts relayed in real time minute by minute for all people to judge? Of course not, and this is what our Lord, Jesus Christ, came down to earth and died for, that which is natural to human beings and an abomination in the sight of God. This is something that the natural man is incapable of not only understanding but even tackling. Sin is an ever-present, dominating force at the center of all human beings and a Holy, Just God cannot just simply pardon this and remain a Holy, Just God. God must punish sin, and it was in the body of Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son.
Righteousness in the sight of God is a gift comes by being reborn, and not merely ascending, or subscribing to certain details in the Scripture. One must take the whole, and unless God reveals the truth, or baptizes one in the Holy Spirit of God, then try as one might, knowledge of the one, living, true God is unattainable. It is not a matter of reasoning, contemplation by the part of a human being, but a revelation that comes from the most-high God at His choosing, and in His time.
Anon's Record 