Falling short

In a movie about the ancient Roman Empire, archers were shooting at targets. I was a bit surprised to hear the words used when the arrows fell short. The crowd called out, “Sinner, sinner” as the arrows missed the target and hit the ground.

This same image comes up in Romans 3 where Paul describes the failure of human beings to be what God intended. It says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” This simply means no one hits God’s target.

I’ve described the same truth by asking people to imagine everyone lining up on the west coast of North America and attempting to swim to Hawaii. I would get a few yards. Some might swim a few miles. Others would drown immediately. The point is, none of us would make it; we all fall short.

The problem most of us have with the concept of righteousness is that we compare ourselves with other people. Compared to Hitler or most jailbirds, I think I’m really good. Sure, some do much better, but it is fairly easy to find others who fall much shorter from the target than I do.

The other thing we tend to do is measure ourselves by what we don’t do. Years ago in a junior church session I used this verse to describe the human predicament. One little girl looked at me with wide eyes and said, “But I’ve never murdered anyone.”

As a Christian adult, when I do that, it is called self-righteousness and no one likes it, particularly God. If I do anything well, or don’t do those bad things, it has nothing to do with how good I am. If there is anything good in me, it is there because of the grace of God.

The next phrase of that sentence in Romans 3 says “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-24).

This is part of a wordy paragraph that goes on to say two times that God is demonstrating His righteousness. Again, what He does by grace through redemption is about Him, not about me or anything that I do. This is repeated throughout the New Testament. Ephesians 2:8-9 says it most clearly:

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

This grace that brings salvation is made available to all people, no matter how far they fall from the target or how close they may seem to hit it. It is offered completely apart from anything anyone could possibly do to receive God’s favor, remembering that nothing we do is sufficient. Salvation is by grace, by the unmerited favor of God. In His mercy and lovingkindness, He offers it as gift to all, and all we need to do is receive it by believing in Jesus Christ.

I entered the kingdom of God only by the grace of God. As my reading today says, there is no place for self-congratulations and any human achievement or merit is out of the question. As I focus on these gospel thoughts, He fills my heart with joy and assurance. The gospel is indeed good news for sinners!