All of us have become like something unclean, and all of our righteous acts are like a polluted garment; all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.     Isaiah 64:6 HCSB

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.     Romans 3:23 HCSB

These two Scripture passages describe the best Christian. Maybe I should say they describe the best Christian we can be on our own. Even if we strive to be our best, our best righteous acts are like filthy rags. We still fall short of His glory.

Dusting is my least favorite household chore. If you use some type of furniture polish to dust, the rag becomes oily. Then as you dust it becomes dirty. Then you have this dirty, oily mixture on your hands if you don’t use gloves. I don’t care for gloves, so my hands get dirty. I just don’t like dusting.

The best Christians are like those rags. We try to be clean. We start out with the best intentions, but we get used. We get hurt. We get oily and dirty and scarred by this thing called life. We may even use our hurts as excuses for sinning. And even if we do our best to be righteous, our righteous acts are still like these filthy rags.

We are sinful from the start. In Psalm 51:5 David said, “Indeed, I was guilty when I was born; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.” We all come here as sinners. You don’t have to teach a child to lie or to want another child’s toy. We’re just born that way.

I am overwhelmed by one thing. This is the fact that God loves us anyway. He loves us unconditionally. Romans 5:8 tells us while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. When we sin, we are God’s enemy. He sent His Son to die for His enemy. Think about that one for a minute.

God so loved the world (that’s you and me) that He gave His only begotten Son (Jesus Christ). So that whosoever (you and me) believe in Him will not perish but have eternal life. We are nothing but miserable sinners, but God loves us unconditionally. We can choose to accept Him and have eternal life in glory or reject Him and go to hell.

Whether you consider yourself to be the worst sinner or the best Christian or somewhere in between know God loves you. Know He wants to walk with you and lead and guide you to eternal life through His Son, Jesus Christ. He freely offers this gift even though we don’t deserve it.

I’m not telling you these things to make you feel bad about yourself. I am telling you these things to encourage you to humbly submit to a God that loves you. Humbly surrender your life to Jesus Christ your Savior. He waits with open arms to receive you, just as you are.

He will walk with you through the hard times and will bless you in ways you never imagined. If you haven’t experienced a life committed to Christ, I urge you to give it a try. You have nothing but heartache and pain to lose. You have peace, joy and eternal life to gain.

Like leaves we wither. Our time here on earth is not guaranteed. We are, however, guaranteed to face judgment. Surrender to Him, ask Him to forgive your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). He can make up for where we fall short, and His blood can wash us clean.

Trust in Jesus today. Obey Him and watch Him work all things out for your good (Romans 8:28).

Have a great day!