Scripture: Romans 3:9-26

9 What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.

10 As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
11 there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”
13 “Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 ruin and misery mark their ways,
17 and the way of peace they do not know.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Observation: There is a theme in the verses we have read in the past couple weeks. We see it here again in vs. 20.- No one is declared righteous by the law, but rather to make us aware of our sins. Highlighting  the incredible grace we are given, and the amazing work done on the cross. And here again, we see God shows no favoritism, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” followed by these incredible words” all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”  We are free from sin by faith.

Application:  Remembering that God views us all equal in His eyes. And that Christ died for us all equally. How often do we compare our spirituality to another person? How often do we compare our “good deeds” to others around us? We may be all in different places in our walk, but we are all covered by the same grace. We are all called to help one another walk more holy lives, but we are all still under the same grace. We are called to hold each other accountable for our actions, but we are not called to judge each others character. We need to understand the difference.

Prayer: Lord, forgive me where I have judged someone simply by their looks or past or something assumed in my own mind. Forgive me if I have judged others, not understanding or bothering to listen to their story. Give me wisdom and boldness to hold others accountable to actions contrary to your word, but help me to always do it in love. I pray others are bold enough to hold me accountable also when my actions don’t line up with your laws. Thank you for another incredible day of life, in Jesus name, amen!