For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
You must realize that you’re helpless to save yourself if you want to find God’s help!
‘Helpless’ means there is no way you can do it. You can’t get right with God by going to every meeting your church puts on. Nor can you make things good between you and God by giving money to good causes. Being good to your family won’t do it either. Nor will getting involved in worthy causes and helping the needy.
All those activities are good, but trying that route to having a good relationship with God overlooks the important thing—doing good doesn’t deal with the ways you’ve already offended God and done what you knew was wrong.
God’s justice lovingly ensures that all the wrongs of this world will be made right, that ultimately no one will get away with the pain they’ve caused. But that same justice also creates an insurmountable obstacle to our efforts to be right with God.
God waits for us to realize that we’re helpless to save ourselves and to receive as a gift the forgiveness we could never have earned. Have you?
For the iPhone app and more from John North and Ambassadors For Christ International, click here.
