No Not One

I think one thing that the Lord continues to remind me is there is none righteous. "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one (Rom. 3:10)." But- "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus (Rom. 3:22-24)."

When a drug addict goes back to drugs, when an alcoholic takes just one sip, when an international student proclaims atheism, when a role model commits adultery, when a leader gets caught in abuse, when a parent abuses a child, when a teenager smokes a cigarette, when a dad leaves his family, when a woman sells her body, when a word slips too fast...

None of us can stop sinning. God can never start. 

Our sins magnify His forgiveness. 

He doesn't need our sins to be Holy.

He IS holy.

Yet He chose to crucify His son so that these sins would be forgiven.

He chose to raise Jesus so we can stand righteous.

Even though "all have fallen short of God's glory (3:23)," I serve a God who doesn't need humans to get glory. Praise the Lord! 

After a week of disappointments. a week of manipulation. a week of distraction. a week of questions. a week of education on homosexuality, rape, elder abuse, child abuse.... I formed a new statement on how I look at social work and just life in general:

"The more I learn about people and their issues, the more I learn about the issue to love people."