Falling Short

Written by Bill Crowder
Via “Redeemed” a journey through Easter season
Our Daily Bread Devotional
 
“For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)
 
One of the fads of 1970’s America was the motorcycle jump. This trend reached its high (and low) point on September 8, 1974. Thousands of spectators gather around the Snake River Canyon in Idaho to see if a man named Evil Knievel could jump across the chasm in a specially designed “sky cycle.”
 
In the end, however, it was unsuccessful. Knievel made it only part of the way across the gulf before his parachute deployed and he dropped to the canyon floor below. Some of the spectators asked, “How far across the canyon did he get?” But that wasn’t the point of the jump. He didn’t make it all the way across, so he fell short of his goal.
 
This scene is a good illustration of sin. The Bible talks about sin in Romans 3:23, where Paul declared, “For all have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God.” Another version says it this way, “Everyone has sinned. No one measures up to God’s glory” (New International Reader’s Version). In other words, none of us are capable of bridging the gap between God and ourselves by our own efforts, but the Savior came to do just that on our behalf. Christ perfectly fulfilled God’s standards, then gave His life on the cross to pay for our failure and wrongdoing. Where we could only fall short, Christ’s work, offered in love, accomplished all that was needed.
 
Our response is to trust Him and receive this matchless gift of salvation, because Jesus is God’s provision for our sin. His sacrifice on the cross bridges the gap we could never cross on our own.