Romans 3:1-8

Thank God for the Jewish people! Without them, we would not have the written record of their journey through history and the revelation of God through them. I have heard it said that one of the reasons God chose them was their meticulous recordkeeping. Their Scriptures preserved genealogies tracing humanity all the way back to Adam and Eve, spanning thousands of years.

I can only trace my own lineage back to my great-grandparents, although some in my family have done a bit of ancestry research, tracing some of our family tree back to the late 1800s.

We walk in the footsteps of those who have gone before us, and we wouldn't be here if it weren't for them. One of the things I look forward to in heaven is meeting my ancestors and learning about their lives here on earth.

Now, concerning the argument some presented to Paul—that somehow our sinfulness serves a good purpose because it demonstrates how righteous God is—that's some flawed logic!

We are always looking for excuses to justify the way we are. God has a plan for our lives, and sin is not part of it. I'm with Paul when he says, "Those who say such things should be condemned." Such reasoning only serves to keep people in captivity to sin.

It reminds me of those who attempt to justify their sin as though it somehow served a good purpose. They say things like, "Maybe it was a good thing that this happened because of what it produced in my life."
But sin itself never serves a good purpose in our lives. The wages of sin is death, and there is no reason to glorify that which brings death into our lives.

However, the mercy and grace of God are more than able to remove the lingering effects of sin and turn what the enemy meant for evil into good. But don't confuse God's ability to redeem our mistakes with His approval of them. Just because God can bring something good out of our sin doesn't mean the sin itself was good or necessary.

What we should celebrate is not the sin that brought us into captivity, but the grace of God that brought us out!

The honor and glory belong to God alone. Whatever good comes from our lives is the result of His grace at work within us. Sin may be part of our testimony, but God's redeeming grace is the reason we have a testimony worth telling.