Entitled to One Mistake?

Almost everyone will admit they’re not perfect. And almost no one seems to be bothered by the fact that they must answer to a perfectly holy God. Today, R.C. Sproul reminds us that God will judge us according to His standard of righteousness, not our own.

We could go out into the streets of America and ask this question to everyone on the street. And if I said to people, “Are you perfect?” I’d be willing to bet that ninety-nine out of the hundred people that we asked that question, no matter what their background is, would say, “No, I’m not perfect. Nobody’s perfect.” “Errare humanum est,” to err is human. But that doesn’t seem to bother us at all. There’s not one person in a thousand who will deny that they’re not perfect. That’s a double negative. Let me put it the other way. There’s not one person in a thousand who will claim to be perfect. Beloved, there’s not one person in a thousand who understands the seriousness of not being perfect.

I hear this: “Everybody’s entitled to one mistake.” Says who? Where did God ever say, “You can all have one mistake. One free sin. One free act of treason against My authority. One free insult to My integrity.” He never said that, did He? But even if He did, how long ago did you use yours up? “Everybody’s entitled to one mistake.” I hope we get more than one. One mistake a second is more like it, because the standard by which we will be judged ultimately is not a curve, but it will be the standard of God’s perfection.