CAST UP!

Understanding our condition

To understand why and how Christianity is the remover of the stones, we must first consider the condition of all humanity—every one of us.

Simply and frankly stated, we are sinners. We do not need to be told we are sinners—each of us has within an understanding about this matter. We understand right and wrong; we understand good and bad. We understand we commit sin. We also know and understand we will continue to sin. In fact, the number of sins each person commits over the course of his or her lifetime is enormous—astronomical is likely a better word to describe the situation. We are sinners who sin a lot.

Here is a challenge for you. Try to estimate the total number of times you have lied throughout your lifetime. If you are like me, such an undertaking is impossible. It is impossible in part because of the large number of times we have lied. The same holds true for many other sinful acts we commit over the course of our life. The point of all this is that we are sinners and we sin a lot. We sin and we cannot stop sinning. Sin is part of our nature and it is something we do. The apostle Paul summarizes the problem like this (italics added): “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 KJV). The apostle John goes a step further and warns people to be careful of denying their sinfulness and says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us...If we say we have not sinned, we make him [God] a liar...” (1 John 1:8; 10 ESV). It is no overstatement to say that sin is our greatest problem.

God, in an attempt to help us recognize our sinfulness, provided a tool referred to as the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments act as a measuring stick of sorts to evaluate our conduct. Having this standard reveals our sins much like an ordinary light provides illumination on anything that is otherwise obscure in the darkness. Paul makes this clear in Romans 7:7-25 where he says, “Yet if it had not been for the law [Ten Commandments], I would not have known sin” (Romans 7:1 ESV). Paul is correct. When we place our actions against the simple list of the Ten Commandments, we find our conduct does not measure up to God’s standard and requirement. And because God was kind enough to provide a measuring stick, we understand we are sinners. Therefore, God provided the commandments to show us how much we all sin.

To conclude, we can only understand why Christianity is the remover of stones when we view ourselves correctly: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Let’s continue on and discuss the greatest reason Christianity is the remover of stones...