All, No Exception

Transcript

Hello, my friend… so glad you're with me today. This is By God's Call — day 325, All, No Exception.

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23.

This verse is small, but it carries the weight of three entire chapters. Paul spent much of the opening of Romans showing something uncomfortable: the Gentiles are under judgment, yes — but the Jews, with all their Law and all their history with God, are too. No one gets out. And after arguing this step by step, he compresses it all into one sentence that has become one of the most quoted in the whole Bible: all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Notice the word all. Not "most people." Not "everyone else, but not me." It's all — no parentheses, no quiet exception for the person who goes to church every week, for the one who never stole anything, for the one who is proud of their own morality. The ground is the same underneath everyone.

And the second part is even more striking once you stop to think about it: fall short of the glory of God. The Greek word there carries the idea of aiming at a target and missing it. We were created — each one of us — to reflect God's glory, to live in a way that showed who He is. And sin, at its core, is that gap between what we were made to be and what we actually are. It's not just breaking a rule. It's missing the target of our very existence.

And here's something that strikes right at our pride: we love comparing ourselves to others. "I'm not as bad as so-and-so." "At least I didn't do what they did." But the standard in this verse is not another person. It is the glory of God. And in front of that standard, no one — not the most religious, not the most morally careful — stands on their own. The measuring line isn't human. It's divine.

But notice this: Paul never lets that hard diagnosis stand alone for long. A few verses after this one, he's already talking about grace — being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. The remedy is already being announced before the wound has even finished being described.

So why does this matter for you today? Because maybe you live comparing your life to other people's, trying to feel good based on who looks worse. Or maybe you carry shame over something specific, as if your sin were bigger or more shameful than everyone else's. Both of those miss the point of the verse. All have sinned. All need the very same grace. No one is in a special category of good, and no one is in a special category of hopeless.

Today I want to invite you to do something simple: when you notice yourself comparing to someone — upward or downward — stop. Acknowledge before God, quietly, that you too need His grace, just like anyone else. And then give thanks that this grace has already been offered in Christ.

Stay close to God. Pray — then act. I'll see you tomorrow, my friend.