If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8)
By sinful nature, we all point fingers of blame at others. That started all the way back in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned against God. Eve blamed the serpent, Adam blamed Eve and God, and we have all been blaming ever since! In fact, we have become quite proficient at pointing fingers of blame at others.
The events in the Garden make it clear what the problem is. The sinful slime of the serpent makes us all self-righteous. We do not naturally look within ourselves to identify the cause of our sin; no, we look outside ourselves to blame others and make excuses for our behavior. We all have sinful inner attorneys who are all too willing to rise to our defense and begin pointing fingers at everyone except ourselves. Even when our consciences begin to convict us of our wrongdoing through the inner testimony of the Holy Spirit, we stubbornly rationalize that the problem is outside of us, not within us.
But this is not for you! When we start pointing fingers at others, we must remember that most of the time, those fingers are actually pointing back at us. We must accept the truth that we are sinners in need of a Savior; we needed Him when we came to faith, and we need him every moment since then! We need the transforming power of God’s grace applied to our lives every day in order to come to terms with the fact that we always fall short of God’s goal for our lives. When we do fall, we accept the truth that we are sinful, we repent of our sin, and respond to God’s forgiveness.
Only God’s grace can cause us to stop pointing fingers. Only God’s grace can cause us to forsake our sinful self-righteousness and rest in the righteousness of the One who came to set us free. Only God’s grace can cause us to see the plank in our own eye instead of searching intently for the speck in the eyes of others.
Have you received this grace today? Are you resting in the perfect performance of Christ in your life for all those times you perform imperfectly? Remember, there is no condemnation for those who are in Jesus (Romans 8:1).
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 