The least common denominator: Is 59:3-8

““No one sues righteously and no one pleads honestly. They trust in confusion and speak lies; they conceive mischief and bring forth iniquityÂ… Their feet run to evil, and they hasten to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, devastation and destruction are in their highways. They do not know the way of peace, and there is no justice in their tracks; they have made their paths crooked, whoever treads on them does not know peace.” (Isaiah 59:4, 6-8)

We are all very different in many ways. Our personalities, our abilities, our upbringing, and our experiences are all a part of what makes us unique. God has created each one of us different, even down to our fingerprints. No two fingerprints, or two people, are the same. When we consider all the ways we are different, there is one way, however, that we are very much the same, we are all sinners. Paul quotes the psalmist David saying, ““There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one.” (Romans 3:10-12) Paul concludes, ““There is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:22-23)

This truth should come as no surprise, it is testified to throughout all the scriptures, but how often we forget this simple fact. We tend to gravitate to one of two deceptions when it comes to the truth of our sinful natures. One deception says that man is basically good, although he occasionally does bad things. His sins are usually a result of conditioning by his environment or a result of oppression by institutions and authorities in his life. The second deception separates good people from bad people and, when it comes to us, we are the good people. Even among Christian circles, we tend to distinguish between the righteous (those in the church) from the unrighteous (those outside the church). Neither of these deceptions is accurate. The truth is that we are all sinners. This one fact unites all mankind as one. None of us is better than anyone else, none of us is born more righteous than anyone else, we are all sinners in need of salvation. Wreckont recon with the fact that the sinner is our brother.

While our sinfulness unites us, it also qualifies us for the greatest gift ever offered. ““It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners , among whom I am foremost of all.” (1 Timothy 1:15) We may be sinners, but being sinners qualifies us for GodÂ’s salvation. All have sinned therefore all are qualified. Thanks be to God!

David Robison