Daily Devotional #1,517

At the Naval Academy in Annapolis each year the upper classmen ask the freshmen how many bricks it took to finish paving the courtyard. A visitor was watching all these freshmen on their hands and knees counting and recording each brick. The visitor asked an upper classman who was supervising this chaos and asked how many bricks did it take to finish paving the courtyard? The upperclassman replied “One”. I thought about that…it was just one brick needed to finish the entire courtyard. And then I thought about what the Bible says about our sin. How many sins does it take to make a person a sinner in need of forgiveness? You know what the Bible says? It says it takes one sin. Yep, one and you are done. As a matter of fact, it says that if you fail to obey only one of God’s commands, you are guilty of breaking all the commands in his law. That is just crazy! Then who in the world can do that? Well, the Bible says that all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That means that every person you will ever meet, read about or hear about…needs the forgiveness that Jesus Christ brings. That’s the bad news. The good news is that forgiveness for all our sins…past, present and future…were all paid for on the cross when Jesus died in our place. All you need to do is reach out and accept that. That’s it! What a great deal!! So, remember that God wants you and me to be forgiven…he doesn’t want to lose any one of us. But because he loves us and wants us to love him, he doesn’t force us to receive that gift. But the Bible reminds us that everyone who believes in this Jesus of the Bible and what he has done…they now have the right to become the children of God. Free and forgiven forever. You’ll never beat this deal…grab it before it’s too late!

Here’s our Bible verse for today…

James 2:10 ERV You might follow all of God's law. But if you fail to obey only one command, you are guilty of breaking all the commands in that law.

Remember I’m praying for you,
PJ