Bible Verse of the Day Thursday June 29th , 2023

Romans 2:3-4 So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment?  Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

We cannot escape almighty God's judgment without accepting His salvation plan. God's judgment is inevitable and unavoidable if we depend on our humanity and mortality. God does not receive our self-evaluation or our sinful nature. It is mind-blowing that so many folks, believing themselves to be moral, wrongly think they will somehow escape God's final judgment. All of us are sinful as we stand before God due to His complete and perfect righteousness. When anyone believes that Jesus died on the Cross for the sins of the entire world and our sins, God declares that person is redeemed. The bar is too high and unattainable for us to attempt to approach the throne of God based on our morality.

Humanity must decide whether we want to try to replace God's righteousness with the weak and feeble conception of our self-righteousness. No matter how good or right we believe we are, our righteousness is filthy rags in God's estimation. Only one place we can find forgiveness for our sins and unrighteousness and that is the Cross of Calvary. We must kneel at the foot of the Cross, accepting the failure of our works and deeds and accepting the work of Christ Jesus on the Cross. The question is not work versus work; the dilemma is whether we will put our faith and trust in the position of Christ or our feeble attempt at good works.

Once we realize that God only tolerates us because of His attributes, it should impact us enough to change our attitude toward Him. Being aware of the characteristics of God should put us on the path of repentance. God, in His grace and mercy, inclines to show tolerance towards us as sinners. However, it is a severe error to trade on the mercy of God and His amazing grace. Too many people hold on to the hope of eternal life through their good works and self-righteous deeds. Self-righteousness will blind the eyes of all that bank on their good works and deeds.

Every morning when we step down on God's green earth, still unrepentant and possibly unremorseful, and find ourselves out of Hell, the rays of sunshine in the morning should convey to us that God has given us another day to come to repentance. When we lay down in our beds surrounded by the darkness of the night, there seems to be a message ringing clearly from God that He has given us another night to come to repentance. Every time we open the pages of God's Word, the message is ringing out clearly and consistently, another day to come to repentance. God will not drive us to repentance but gently lead us to a repentant heart. The sweetest repentance comes not by God driving us but by gently knocking at the door of our hearts (Revelation 3:20).