Open your Bible and read Romans 3:9-26
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
Romans 3:23 · ESVA month in, here is the question sitting under everything else. If Jesus came to teach us how to live, why did it end with an execution? A good teacher does not need a cross.
The Bible's answer is uncomfortable, and it is worth hearing straight instead of softened. It says our problem is not a shortage of good advice. It says something is broken in every single person, the decent and the religious included. All have sinned. That line was written by a man who once had a spotless record and was proud of it.
You may not use the word sin. You might say failure, or damage, or just being human. That is fair. But you have probably felt the distance between the person you meant to be and the person you actually are.
The cross only makes sense if that distance is real and matters. So start there this week. Is it real?
Do this today
Write down one thing you have done that you would not want read out loud, and leave it on the page.
An honest thing to say to God
“God, if the distance between who I am and who I should be is real, I want to see it clearly.”