All we do, is sin. Sin is sin, no matter what.
That’s the reality for every person who lives with or without faith in Christ. And by faith I don’t mean a mere belief in the existence of God, because James says: “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even demons believe and shudder!”(James 2v19).
If you are without Christ even the “good” you do, is sin. Washing your elderly neighbour’s car on Sundays is a sin. “For whatever does not proceed from faith, is sin.” (Romans 14v23).
We are people who reach for the sky in an attempt to grasp that which we consider valuable, and through that we call ourselves successful. True success, however, is out of our reach because we are born with bodies that are permeated by sin and have an insatiable desire to do that which God hates. If you want to be successful, you need peace. Not peace with your neighbour, but peace with God. None of us is born with this peace because we are hostile as well as hateful towards God.
The success we so desperately need and which is out of our reach is not achieved by us. It is simply given through Jesus dying on the cross. It is exalting us to the point of success where we are no longer enemies but sons of the eternal God, receiving an inheritance that cannot be comprehended by the physical mind when Jesus our Saviour and Success-giver and -achiever returns.
RONALD PETERSEN
