Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"
1 Kings 8:46 says, "...(for there is no man who does not sin)..."
Every single one of us have sinned and CONTINUE to sin, continue to fall short; not one of us is without sin. Because of this sin, we fall short of God's glory, God's expression; we do not accomplish what God had originally intended, for us to be His expression, and we contradict the holiness and righteousness of God, expressing sin and our own sinful self instead. Not a single one is holy or righteous or without sin. Every one falls short.
But hallelujah! 1 Peter 1:18-19 tells us that we were redeemed and redeemed not with corruptible things but with precious blood! "Blood as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, the blood of CHrist." We are cleansed and marked by the blood of Christ, without blemish and without spot, and by it, through it, under it, we are redeemed!
Titus 2:14 says, "Who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all lawlessness and purify to Himself a particular people as His unique possession, zealous of good works."
Christ, the only one without sin, gave Himself on our behalf to redeem us and purify us to be like Him, so that He might gain us as a unique possession! We, as His unique possession, must be zealous of good works! "For we are His masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand in order that we would walk in them"! (Eph. 2:10) So what are these good works we were created for, that we must be zealous of? Footnote 10^3 says, "The good works for which God created us are not the good things that are according to our general concept but the definite good things that God preplanned and preordained for us to walk in. These good things must be the doing of His will that we may live the church life and bear the testimony of Jesus, as revealed in the succeeding chapters of this book."
Doesn't it make you want to read on, read the rest of Ephesians as quickly as possible? :D We must be zealous to do God's will! Not our own thinking, our own goals and hobbies and pursuits (all of sinful, corruptible nature), but God's will! What He has willed in eternity past for eternity future. So we must live the church life and bear the testimony of Jesus, as He intended and planned. Hallelujah!
Hymn #468 (Chinese):
1. 我若稍微偏离正路，我要立刻舒服；
但我纪念我主基督，如何忠心受苦。
4. 我心所望不是伟大，不是今生通达，
我愿现在卑微事主，那日得祂称许。
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