A TEACHER AND PLUMB LINE
Carey Madding
Today's Scripture: “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:20, ESV
Theme: The law shows us how far we miss the mark. All people fall short.
RULES, RULES, AND MORE RULES
All our lives, people tell us what we must do or instruct us in what not to do. Some laws we know and occasionally disregard: speeding, sharing streaming passwords, or downloading a song. Some of the rules we are taught are just absurd (and not factual). I was told I could not drive a car barefoot, which is not true. But I did not know it was illegal to stop and check a text message at a red light. Evidently, the law says you should be legally parked to send or receive texts. Oops!
It is illegal in a few states to drive with anything hanging on your rearview mirror: an air freshener, a face mask, or fuzzy dice. It is illegal in about six states to drive without removing all the snow from your vehicle. After being rear-ended on a snowy day, I can see why that makes sense. (She claimed she could not see my taillights, though the entire interstate was at a crawl and had been for twenty minutes.)
THE LAW, OUR TUTOR
Our Scripture for today states: “through the law comes knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20b, ESV). Paul wrote something similar in a letter to the Galatian believers: “Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor” (3:24-25, NKJV). Other translations call the law our guardian or schoolmaster. The awareness of wrongdoing, when we are caught in breaking a state law, should make us change – that and the citation! In the same way, when we learn of God’s moral law, there should be a sense of embarrassment, shame, or conviction. This is the purpose of the law: to show we are not perfect and will never be able to keep the law without mistakes.
However, God does not leave us in this place of shame. As Paul wrote, “the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ.” We do not know we need a Savior until we completely understand we can never meet God’s requirements for holiness on our own. The law teaches us this very thing: that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23, NKJV).
Make It Personal: We all feel “above the law” in some areas. We know it, but feel it doesn’t apply to us. God’s intention was for the law to protect us and keep us safe, and for it to be a benchmark to show how far from perfection we truly are. Is there an area of your life where you feel the rules don’t apply to you? Do you have the attitude that you are so much “better” than other people that you overlook your own seemingly minor sins or imperfections? Allow the plumb line of God’s Word to show you have far off the plumb you have moved.
Pray: Holy God, thank You for reminding me that without You – without the shed blood of Jesus – I am wholly incapable of keeping Your law or coming into Your presence. Help me embrace the truth that I cannot keep Your commandments and I need a Savior. Thank You for sending Your precious Son to cover all my sin so that I can be with You forever. In His Name I pray, Amen.
Read: Romans 3:1-20
Weekly Memory Verse: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Romans 1:16, ESV