Sinners Among the Saints

“‘Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth’” (Job 40:3-4 NKJV).

            Job describes himself as vile?! Wait, what? Didn’t God Himself describe Job was as “a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil” (Job 1:8)? Yes. But, when Job saw God, he could only say, “I am vile.” Think about Abraham, who is called “the father of all those who believe” (Rom 4:11). When he presumed to talk to God, however, Abraham said, “I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord” (Gen 18:27). Let’s consider David – the man called “the sweet psalmist of Israel” (2 Sam 23:1) – in 1 Sam 13:14, he’s even called “a man after God’s own heart.” Yet, in Ps 51:3-4, this great man says, “…my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned…” What about the “greats” of the New Testament? In Luke 5:8, Peter said, “I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Paul calls himself the chief of sinners (1 Tim 1:15).

            This is not intended to depress you! In fact, this should be encouraging! Often I hear a couple different ideas about our spiritual lives. Some folks think they’ll never be good enough for God. Some others think they want nothing to do with “religion” because, you guessed it, “they’re all a bunch of hypocrites!” So, considering these pillars of the faith just mentioned, let’s deal with those lines of reasoning.  

The closer one becomes to God, the more clearly one sees his own sinfulness. The fact is – we WILL never be good enough for God! God is holy. He is the very standard of holiness! We come to know Him and are accepted by Him through our great Mediator – Jesus Christ, “and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). Secondly, I know I’ve mentioned my friend in Topeka, KS who referred to the congregation there as his “favorite group of sinners.” That is so true. We’re ALL Romans 3:23 people (look it up…). But, that doesn’t make us hypocrites! Surely we all want to walk in the light. But, it’s a challenge. And, the truth is, sometimes we’ll slip up. We try! We do our best! But, even Paul describes, in Romans 7, the struggle of doing what we don’t want to do and vice-versa! So, if you’re walking with Christ, but you see mistakes made in your life on occasion, just remember – you’re in good company. Only our Savior was sinless. And through His sacrifice we can trust God’s promise, seen in Hebrews 8:12: “…their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

(Idea adapted from icr.org - "Saints and Sinners" - 7/11/13)