A SingleTrip to the Cross

Thursday morning, July 31, 2008
Don't faint, but I have another excerpt from Mason's book: "One cannot be a little bit righteous any more than one can be a little bit pregnant. Either one's sin is completely forgiven (including not just sinful behavior but the innate sinfulness of the heart) or it is not. Christ's great principle of prayer—'Believe that you have received it, and it will be yours' (Mark 11:24)—applies first of all to the unconditional forgiveness that is the basic promise of the gospel. If God accepts us at all, He accepts us wholeheartedly, and He covers us completely with the spotless robe of righteousness. The robe of divine acceptance does not come in gray, but only in dazzling white, and one either has the robe or not. One is either righteous or wicked. And anyone who is wicked can have that status quickly amended by a trip to the cross" (p. 26).
This notion of being a "little bit righteous" reminds me of the concept of "balance scales" that I heard so much about in my growing-up days. It was made obviously clear to me that God kept a pair of balance scales by which He measured my ability to measure-up to His standard. As you can see, the object of this inanity was to make the "good" side of the scales outweigh the "bad" side of the scales. The sad thing was this: During those early years, I thought I was pretty good at it! One the one hand, I didn't smoke, drink, dance, cuss, chew, or have sex; on the other hand, I studied the Bible, witnessed like zealot, prayed faithfully, never missed church, Sunday school, youth meetings, or Wednesday night prayer meeting, and I might add, I made it my business to help God "win the world" to Jesus by winning at least one lost soul to Him every day (even kept a list of the "winnings"!). As you can see, the "good" side of my balance scales far out-weighed the "bad" side—or so I thought.
Although you would have never talked me into admitting it, the problem was that I always a some "items" that belonged on the "bad" tray of the scales (I will continue to let you wonder what they were!), although never so many, as to tilt the scales in the "bad" direction. As you can see, as long as you believe that "a little bit of righteousness" is good enough, you will also believe that "a little bit of sin" ain't so bad; however, when it finally dawns upon you that "one cannot be a little bit righteous any more than one can be a little bit pregnant" it also dawns upon you that "a little bit of sin is more-than-enough to send you to a deserving hell. When this happens, the "balance scale theory" is in heaps of trouble, not to mention the one who is attempting to keep things "balanced."
You see, the fact is this: We need a Savior, a Redeemer, One who would do for us what we could never do for ourselves, namely, deal with our sin problem—perfectly and permanently. Mason is correct, all it takes in one trip to the cross, but I think most of us (even Mason) have mistakenly believed that it is our trip to the cross that makes the difference; however, nothing could be further from the truth. It was His trip to the cross that made the difference, not mine or yours!
Have a wonderful last day of July!!