Grace Of God And Flaws Of MenSýnishorn

No One Makes The Cut 

When traveling through Egypt, Abraham had played con artist with Pharaoh. He asks Sarah, his wife, to pretend that she is his sister so he doesn’t incur Pharaoh’s jealousy. When Pharaoh uncovers the deception, he returns Sarah to her husband in a jiffy.

The same story repeats itself, this time with King Abimelech being duped by Abraham. Again, Abimelech does the noble thing and ensures that Sarah goes back to her husband. 

Who is the better man in each of these incidents? 

Clearly, Abraham was not taking home the medal. With Abraham repeating the same sin twice over and endangering his wife, it’s hard to be sympathetic toward him. 

And, yet.

And, yet, what if we posed the question to God – who is the better man Abraham or Pharaoh? God’s answer would be, “none.”

It takes us back to a simple but profound truth from Scripture: there is no one found righteous, not even one. 

Sure, Pharaoh and Abimelech took wiser and better decisions that Abraham, but none of them match God’s perfect standard of holiness. 

None of us make the cut. No one is up for a promotion. No one stands a chance in the light of God’s high and exacting holiness.

But instead of ending the story right there, God, in His infinite mercy and love, sent Jesus. On the Cross, God took the perfection of Jesus and He gave it to everyone who would believe in Him. 

The next time we’re tempted to hold someone (especially ourselves) up as a symbol of virtue and morality, let’s first understand that we’re deeply, deeply flawed. We judge from a fallen, finite and flawed sense of righteousness. None of us is perfect - except for the Perfect One, God’s only Son.