Romans 3:10-12
None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.
It is interesting to think of the gospel as good news, because in order for it to be such good news we must comprehend our horrible present reality. Now I don’t know about you, but I normally like to think of myself as a pretty good person. Maybe you think the same way. Perhaps you have a great job, you have awesome friends, a good family, and you haven’t added anything to your police rap sheet lately. I don’t think many people think of themselves as bad people. Sure, we all make mistakes, but overall most would probably say, “I’m pretty good”.
However, when we look at scripture, we must come to grips with how horrible we are. Normally when we say we’re good we are comparing ourselves against the worst in society, but God says we are evil because His eternal standard isn’t based on the worst but rather the best, God himself, who is perfectly holy. In light of his perfection, all of us our imperfect. All of us fail. All of us deserve death and eternal damnation.
God help me to come to grips with how evil I am, because I know that when I do, I’ll come to grips with how great your mercy is. God thank you that you didn’t leave me where I was, but you came into my life and changed me. God I still need to be changed. I need to grow. I need you God.