Daily Devotional

Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. Ecclesiastes 7:20

Have you noticed that we live in an age when, in spite of all the bad in the news, nobody is guilty of anything?

Consider the parents who threatened to sue a teacher because their child wasn't going to graduate. Failing grades, you know. No matter their child had plagiarized a test, skipped classes, failed to turn in assignments, didn't go to a make-up session that might have raised her grade. No matter the teacher had sent home notes telling the parents what was happening; No matter. It was the teacher's fault.

Not so long ago a California man sued two Las Vegas hotels because they allowed him to gamble away more than a million dollars while he was drunk. Understand, he wasn't responsible for going into a casino; he wasn't responsible for drinking like a fish; he wasn't responsible for gambling, or for anything.

Then there is the commercial jetliner which flew from Los Angeles to New York. As sometimes happens, the plane was shook by some pretty strong turbulence. At least a few of the passengers were sure their end had come. It hadn't and they sued the airline for the 28 seconds of terror they had endured. A jury gave the flyers two million dollars.

Should I talk about the 270-pound, five-foot, ten-inch maintenance worker who sued four fast-food chains for having jeopardized his health with greasy, salty food? He wasn't at fault for eating the stuff. They were the guilty ones.

You get my drift.

In contrast to what many think and believe, the Bible says differently. God's holy Word reminds us that every one of us lives our days as sinners -- we are people who, no matter how good we might be, still fall far short of the perfection God demands.

Because we are all guilty sinners, we all need a Savior. To be that Savior is precisely why Jesus was born into this world. For us He was to lead the perfect life which had always been beyond our grasp. For our forgiveness He carried our sins and paid the price the Law had demanded. For us He was nailed to a cross and died the death our disobedience deserved.

Now, because the Guiltless died for the guilty, all who are given faith in Jesus as their Savior are declared righteous, forgiven, and free of all spiritual debts.

Salvation is ours because there was one just Man upon the earth who did good and never sinned: our Lord and Savior, Jesus.

THE PRAYER: Dear Heavenly Father, I give thanks that in Jesus Christ You have been merciful to me a sinner. In the Name of the Christ who has saved me, I give thanks. Amen.