All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
- Isaiah 64:6
Just the other day, I was walking through a local long-term care facility to visit one of my church members when something caught my eye. On one of the hallway’s walls was a large sign declaring that area to be the “Wall of Honor.” Perhaps the intention was to recognize stellar employees or favorite patients, or maybe donors to the facility. It’s unclear—because beneath the sign was nothing but an empty wall.
More than likely, the Wall of Honor is a work in progress and there will be names or pictures up there soon enough. But its present emptiness did get me thinking about the human tendency to dole out accolades, prizes, and trophies for those who achieve a certain level of prestige. We love a good awards show, any opportunity we can find to crown a winner.
But Scripture offers a humbling reminder that, in a spiritual sense, the Wall of Honor is an empty place. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; there is none who is righteous, no, not one. However much you might like to perceive yourself as a ‘good person’ in the eyes of the world, that standard still falls short of holiness.
But there is one who is worthy to be praised, one who is worthy of blessing and glory and honor. And, by the grace of God, he came to this earth to offer hope to the unworthy, a lifeline for the spiritually dead. Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, lived and died and rose again so that any who believe in him can become part of the family of God themselves, adopted as sons and daughters of the King.
The truth is that there’s nothing we can do to earn our place on God’s Wall of Honor. But by grace through faith, we can end up there anyway—not because of what we do but because of what Christ has done.
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