GOD'S FITNESS TEST PART TWO

Sinful behavior is the inherent nature of fallen humanity. By God’s standards, you and I are dangerous criminals, and should be in jail right now. We are never more mistaken than when we think that we are good people.
When I got my driver’s license, it was the Department of Motor Vehicles that had been satisfied that I am good enough as a driver.
But by God’s standards, I am a sinner deserving death.
When I got a High School certificate, it was the Examination Board that had been impressed that my proficiency in the subjects sat for was good enough.
But by God’s standards, I am chief among sinners.
Those of us who are married, or once were, when my proposal for marriage was accepted, it was my partner who got satisfied that I would make a good spouse. But by God’s standards, I am a sinner of such wicked influence that I deserve solitary confinement.
When I was discharged, it was the Magistrate who had been convinced that I was not guilty. But by God’s standards, I deserve life imprisonment with hard labor.

Let us thank God that He does not parade our sins for public consumption. Someone expressed this thought so well, and I am sharing this with you. Had it been God’s habit, every time we fall in to sin, to write the sins on our skin, who among us would still be having blank space on their skin? Who among us would be putting on short sleeves? Who would venture out to the public with any attire cut above the knees; what with tattoos of the most private and shameful sins disgracing us before onlookers. Actually, dress reform would come along by itself without being promoted from the pulpit.

Let us thank God that He does not parade our character lapses.

Or imagine if it was God’s practice of screening on our foreheads our individual thought patterns and secret yearnings of the heart, for all to familiarize themselves with the plots, schemes and fantasies that preoccupy our minds. Who would go about without headgears that cover our foreheads right down to the eyes, for fear people will know us for who we really are?

You see, we should thank God that our private thoughts are hidden from public view.

In the great drama of all time, God intends to reclaim such like me to join the rest of the sinless worlds, where sin shall not rise the second time. What is the assurance then that it is safe to release an accomplished and habitual sinner like me to heaven? Don’t we know them, one-time mighty preachers and one-time great church leaders who today are moving beer halls? Don’t we also know them, one-time talented musicians in the church, who today do not get satisfied with one cigarette at a time? As if to cover up for lost time, you see them puffing at two at a time.

A brother of mine told me of an encounter with a smoker, who upon lighting a cigarette offered him one. Being a non-smoker, my brother politely turned down the offer with a,
Thank you, but I do not smoke.
The man cautioned,
Young man, with regards to cigarettes you should never say I don’t smoke.
You would rather say I do not smoke yet.
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