Daily Devotionals

Devotional: July 12th

ALL HAVE SINNED

There is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory God. - Romans 3:22-23

What does the Bible mean by sin? Everything that goes against or neglects God’s law. And if you will bring into all the acts of every life the reference, which really is there, to God and His will, you will not need anything more to establish the fact that "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Whatever other differences there are between men, there is this fundamental similarity. Neglect - which is a breach- of the law of God pertains to all mankind. Everything that we do ought to have reference to Him. Does everything that we do have such reference? If not, there is a quality of evil in it. For the very definition of sin is living to myself and neglecting Him. He is the Centre; and, if I might use a violent figure, every planet that wrenches itself away from gravitation towards, and revolution round, that Centre, and prefers to whirl on its own axis, has broken the law of the celestial spheres, and brought discord into the heavenly harmony. All men stand condemned in this respect.

Now, there is no need to exaggerate. I am not saying that all men are on the same level. I know there are great differences in the nobleness, purity, and goodness of lives, and Christianity has never been more unfairly represented than when good men have, as one of them called, with St. Augustine, the virtues of godless men, "splendid vices." But though the differences are not unimportant, the similarity is far more important. The pure, clean-living man, and the gentle, loving woman, though they stand high above the sensuality of the profligate, the criminal, stand in this respect on the same footing that they, too, have to put their hands on their mouths, and their mouths in the dust, and cry, "Unclean!" I do not want to exaggerate, and sure I am that if men will be honest with themselves there is a voice that responds to the indictment when I say sadly, in the solemn language of Scripture, "we all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. For there is no difference." If you do not believe in a God, you can laugh at the old wife’s notion of " sin." If you do believe in a God, you are shut up to believe this other, " Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned." And if this universal fad is indeed a fact, it is the gravest element in human nature. It matters very little, in comparison, whether you and I are wise or foolish, educated or illiterate, rich or poor, happy or miserable. All the superficial distinctions which separate men from one another, and are all right in their own places, dwindle away into nothing before this solemn truth, that in every frame there is a plague spot, and that the leprosy has smitten us all

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