
This week’s Pastor to Person is written by Pastor Caleb Beller.
[Rom 3:23 NIV] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
When I hit headfirst into the shore; I knew something wasn’t right. The radiating pain, shortness of breath, this was more than just a wipe out. The x-rays and CT scan finally revealed the extent of the injury. Vertebral compression fracture T1 – T5. When the doctor arrived, he calmly stated I have good news and bad news, the bad news is you broke your back, the good news is it wasn’t your neck. Having the proper diagnoses was the first step in my recovery. I was then able to ask, “what do we do next?”
Paul, like a good doctor, is revealing the extent of our condition. Three things I see that help us as we consider the weight of Paul’s diagnosis.
“Unity,” Paul says, “all” have sinned, this means the one thing I have in common with all mankind, is my sin. Regardless of how this sin manifests in me or you, we all share the same condition. This brings a certain equality and unity. I am no better or worse than anyone else, my symptoms might be, but we are “all” suffering from the same condition.
“Clarity,” the key word in the diagnosis is “sin”, which Paul explains as “falling short of the glory of God.” Here we begin to move past the symptoms (how sin manifests) and deal with the root causes of where it begins. Ultimately, we sin because we are sinners, we are not sinners because we have sinned. This revelation about my heart and the brokenness of my condition helps me understand that trying harder is not going to fix it.
Lastly, we see this brings “humility.” The declaration of falling short of the glory of God, implies that there is a God, and I am not it. This requires a reorienting of my position from the center of my universe to the cure in v.24.
As we consider Paul’s diagnosis, how does this impact you today? First it makes me grateful for how far I have come. Second it helps me see myself in others from what I was, to what they could be. It also reminds me of the importance of the gospel for the root issues in the world today, we are sinners in need of a Savior.
-Pastor Caleb