How's Your Speed?

How's Your Speed?
     I love to drive, but it can get a bit crazy on the road.  Some are real sticklers, driving only the speed limit.  Some are overly cautious and drive a fair bit under.  I, like many, follow the 5 mph rule.  You can always get away with up five over the limit, well, almost always.  Careful in school zones though.  Others figure if you can get away with five, why not ten.  Still others believe themselves to be above the law and drive as fast as they can, zipping in and out of traffic at will.
     All those different drivers do not mix well together.  Everyone wants to live by their own rules.  The problem is, we all want to follow our own opinion of what the correct limit should be.  Fortunately, there is a group that we are accountable to called the police.  They enforce the only valid speed limit set by a higher authority, the government.
     A lot like life, isn't it.  Some live by the rules.  Some avoid doing anything remotely close to breaking a rule.  Some bend the rules to the point of breaking.  Still others follow no rules but their own passions.  We all tend to want to decide for ourselves what the rules of right and wrong are.
     Again, we are fortunate in that we are accountable to a higher authority.  He set the rules long ago.  They do not bend and sway based on our whims or desires.  And in the end, He will enforce them.  That may not be good news.
     We have no capacity to perfectly follow them, and if we fail in the least point, we fail in all points.  (James 2:10).  The penalty for failure is death, separation from God.  (Romans 6:23)  And that isn't just a here and now thing, that separation from God is forever. (2 Thessalonians 1:9)  For a people who like to live by their own set of rules, that can not end well.
     There is good news though (Gospel literally means "good news").  God's love for us is as infinite as his hate for sin.  He came as one of us and lived a perfect life.  In spite of this, and the many miracles he performed and all those he healed, he was falsely accused of a capital crime, tortured by those in charge, and the full force of all God's hatred for sin (the sin of every single human that will ever have existed) was poured out on him.
    Because he willingly chose to pay our price when he himself was innocent, we now can stand before God.  One small catch.  We must realize our need for him, and we have to believe that he loved us enough to actually do what he promised he did.  This leads to the "Crown Jewel" of all scripture, the most recognized verse in the whole bible.
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16
     So how's your speed?  Are you still trying to set your own rules?  Or have you realized you can't follow the rules on your own power and need help?