None of us are perfectly sinless. I think most people agree that is true on some level. The biggest issue is that we want to be able to determine for ourselves what is actually called sin. Simply put – sin is “missing the mark”. So who set the mark and what is it? The Creator God did and it his holiness! That’s it. If we somehow attain the holiness of God, then we’re good. We’re sinless. (Note: This has only been done by one person. God himself in the person of Jesus.)
So if I’m a sinner and you’re a sinner … what’s the difference?
By the grace of God, I recognized my sin. All of it. The obvious ones that were a little easier to give up and the ones that I actually kind of enjoyed. The ones I had convinced myself weren’t sin, or at least that I had come up with a “valid reason” to continue doing. The ones that weren’t really a big deal because they weren’t hurting anyone else. I confessed them all to God (not that he didn’t already know, but that I was finally agreeing with him). I acknowledged to him that I could not save myself. And I asked Jesus to be the Lord of my life and the Savior of my soul. Do I still sin? Unfortunately, yes, I do. But I know it is sin and the Holy Spirit living within me makes it much harder to be o.k. with it. My sin is ugly to me just like it is to God. Repentance is something I need to do or my heart aches. But even as I still fall short I will not pay the ultimate price of eternal separation from God in hell. Jesus, My Redeemer, paid that price for me.
And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. – 1 John 5:11-13
You, on the other hand, don’t need a Savior. You are offended when someone dares to call what you’re doing “sin”. Or you make excuses for your sin as if a holy God allows for gray areas. Maybe you even pray to a god you figure is out there asking for forgiveness and assuming you’ve received it on your own accord. Then you figure that your prayer wiped the slate clean so the sins you willingly commit today won’t be piled on top of the ones you committed yesterday. You probably figure that you can do enough good things to make up for the bad – since you’re not really that bad anyways. You drown out the voices that are warning you of judgement and cling to the ones that assure you you’re o.k. without truly seeking the answers from God for yourself. In your heart you must wonder, “Am I really o.k.?” The question may be fleeting as your heart is getting hardened, but every once in a while you wonder, “Do I need a Savior?”
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”…for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” – Romans 10:9-11, 13