I Don’t Need to Be Saved

2021-12-09

What do we need to be “saved” from, anyway? I do what is right. I might not be perfect, but I do my best. I am only human.

Well, that’s the problem. Nobody is perfect. But God’s standard is perfection. “Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God” (Deuteronomy 18:13) and “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

But God is love, man. Right? He will just let my imperfections slide.

If God just let sin or evil slide, He would not be God. He could not be the God of justice. How would you feel about the earthly judge that would sweep everyone’s crimes under the rug? How about the judge that just lets all the criminals off without any punishment? No. God, who is perfect, will not let anyone off in the end. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27) and “they were judged every man according to their works” (Revelation 20:13).

Anyone who sins and does evil (everyone) will face the perfect God on judgment day. Unless God has some manner of plan. The God of justice must punish sin, but the God of love must also pardon.

God punished our sin without punishing us. Jesus “bare our sins in his own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). Nobody is perfect, but Perfect died on the cross for us and gave us His righteousness. Now that is a pardon.