All Have Sinned

MONDAYFebruary 8
All Have Sinned
Read Romans 3:12–20. How do we see the reality of these words manifested all around us? How do you see it manifested in your own life?  

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One of the sad facts of life is that there can be some very gifted and talented people, charming people, charismatic people, people of great skill and insight whom we often label as “good” when, in fact, they are rotten to the core. The word good can, like the word love, be so readily and cheaply thrown around that it loses its true meaning. When we keep the idea of God’s
goodness before us, we can much better understand what human goodness is really, and ideally, about.
How often we hear non-Christians say that they don’t understand all this Christian talk about humans being naturally sinful and so forth? Aren’t there, after all, people who do good things, who express kindness, selflessness, and unconditional love? Haven’t we all seen people who are like that? How would you respond to this kind of argument?  

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Years ago, Russian writer Feodor Dostoevsky wrote a book about his time in a Siberian prison camp, where some of Russia’s worst criminals were incarcerated. Among the prisoners were those who had committed some of the most vile and heinous crimes imaginable. Yet Dostoevsky wrote about how, at times, these men were capable of doing some of the gentlest and kindest acts. The point is that even the worst people can do kind deeds. And at the same time, who hasn’t seen really good people, when pushed, do some pretty bad things?
What about yourself? Are you not capable of doing some very kind and loving deeds? Are you not capable of doing some very cruel and evil ones too? What do your answers tell you about yourself and your need of Jesus?