Speeding and Sinning

Would you be upset if a policeman pulled you over and wrote you a citation for driving 71 mph in a 70 mph speed zone?  My guess is that you would be outraged, if not on the outside, most definitely on the inside.  Some of us might try to reason with the police officer, some would be visibly angry, and there might even be one or two of us that would hire a lawyer to try to get our ticket dismissed.

Answer me these two questions:  1.) Were you speeding?  If yes, then 2.) When did it become ok to break the law?

I give you this scenario because I think most of us in our lives have become desensitized to sin.  Much like ONLY driving 1 mph over the speed limit, when we sin, we rationalize it as something minimal, and use comparisons (to "big time sinners" who commit "real sin") and justification to make us feel better about it.  At the end of the day, we consider ourselves "good people".

William P. Farley offers some insight and direction in this area, in his book Outrageous Mercy:

"We cannot see ourselves aright when humanity is our only point of reference." 

"todays great problem. . . most Christians do not understand the cross, they think too well of themselves.  But it was at the cross where God publicly displayed his hostility to sin and sinners.  At the cross we come to grips with our sinfulness so that we can later fall in love with God and revel in his infinite love."

"the cross displays the glory and wonder of God's love only to the degree that we see our unworthiness of that love and our inability to give him anything."

"You merely need to see God and self at the foot of the cross, because the cross profoundly humbles everyone who understands its message.  For there we see God, dying for his enemies.  'When we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son' (Rom. 5:10)." 

We see from Outrageous Mercy that:  

1. When we compare ourselves to the norms of society, which we have done with respect to our sinfulness, most of us feel above average.
2. Mr. Farley suggests that many of us do not understand the cross because we are arrogant.  
3. The cost defines the love.  When we see ourselves unworthy at the foot of the cross, humility opens our eyes to the depth of the message and love of Christ.

So today's challenge is to ask yourself these questions:

1. Have you compared yourself to the "worst of sinners" and genuinely feel like you are a "good person"?  
2. How, then, is an understanding of the cross (as mentioned above by Farley) driving you to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind"?