The athlete says to the other man 'Do you think you can jump over to the other side? Let's both do it, and see how far we get.' So the lazy man lifts up his right leg, then his left. He looks down the cliff at the rocks below and thinks 'As long as I get past those rocks I will be doing alright'. He backs up a bit, then takes a run, possibly for the first time in his life, and jumps into the air! He just makes it, landing just metres from the last of the rocks.
The athlete laughs. He walks way back up the slope and then turns around. Slowly he starts to run, picking up speed, building up momentum. You've never seen anything like it! It was like the wind incarnated as a person! And when he reached the edge he leapt forth and he flew! He flew through into the air like an arrow released from a bow. But every arrow comes back down, and so did he, landing with a great big splash a good 10 metres from where the other man was. Looking back, He called out to the other man, 'You've got nothing on me!'
The other man, just now climbing out of the water, looked over to the coast of France and then down to the athlete, and shook his head. 'Yeah, but you've got nothing on reaching the other side!'
Some of us are like that first man. We think we're good if we just make it past the rocks. Others are like that athlete, excelling far better than the next guy, but the point is, ten metres or twenty metres, there's no way you can reach the other side.
In this story the far side represents being perfect. Most people, if you ask them whether they think of themselves as a 'good person' will answer yes. Why is that? I would suggest that it's because we can all point to someone else that we see as worse than ourselves, and when we compare ourselves to them we can make ourselves out to look pretty good. But what happens when we compare ourselves to God?
Lately I've been thinking a bit about whether I am really trying to please God with the way I live or just trying to look good in front of my friends. I want my friends to think of me as a good man, to look up to me and respect what I do and say. Who doesn't? But if I am being a good Christian simply to gain the respect of others than that is a very unhealthy and empty motive. My good deeds, hours spent reading the word and long prayers will never make me good before God. I may be able to jump further then the next guy, but I am still miles short of reaching the other side. When I compare myself to God I see myself for whom I really am; a broken, pitiful, foolish and needy sinner.
Isaiah 64 verse 6 (NIV) - All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.
Eternal separation
The bible does talk about different degrees of sin, but the ultimate consequence of all sin, great and small, is very clear; eternal separation from God. God is perfect; he is completely Holy and no sin can stand before him. Even my 'righteous' acts are dirty before him, tainted with impure motives and my sinful nature. And so I find myself in need of a savior, to set me right before a Holy God.
Jesus Christ, the son of God, came to earth as a man. He lived a perfect life, a life without a trace of sin: he was faultless in every way, a man without spot or blemish. But He was delivered up to be killed. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter - the Son of God, yet he made no defense! He was reviled yet he didn't revile back, he was spat upon and mocked yet did nothing.
But that's not the reason I am saved.
He was beaten, whipped. Stripes of blood marred his back where the roman whip attacked his skin, driven with force by a man whose very life was created by the very Being he was scourging. He carried his cross of wood up to mount Calvary, labouring under its weight. It crushed him, it bruised him. He was so weak, the creator of the universe, God in human flesh, so weak that he needed help to carry that cross. And when they reached the site of crucifixion, he was laid on that cross and nails were driven through his hands and through his feet. His groans of pain filled the air, his blood soaked the wood red.
But that's not the reason I am saved.
On that cross Jesus Christ, the perfect son of God, the man who knew no sin, became sin! All the blackness, all the blemishes, all the filth and vileness of this world was poured out on him. He carried the weight of the sin of the world on his shoulders. He bore our iniquities on that cross. He died.
Isaiah 53 verse 5 and 6 (NIV) - But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
2 Corinthians 5 verse 21 (NIV) – God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
I hear people say that we live in an age of no miracles. It's not true. The greatest miracle of all happens when God takes a dying man and gives him life. When God takes a sinner and makes him righteous, the transformation is truly miraculous! The cross bridges over the chasm of sin that separates us from God, allowing us to be reconciled to God. How far can I jump? Not very far. But I don't have to, Christ has jumped in my place.
Thomas Devenish lives in Hobart, Tasmania. One of nine children, He works as a motion graphics editor and enjoys photography and the creative arts.
Thomas Devenish's previous articles may be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/thomas-devenish.html