Daily Devotions
Grading On the Curve
Reading for November 23rd: Romans 1-2
He will render to each one according to his works... God shows no partiality.
Romans 2:6, 11
In college I loved it when the professor would grade "on the curve." Even if I had failed a test miserably, there were always some who did worse than I did. And so, measured against the rest of the class my score was usually good enough to pass.
I think a lot of us are hoping God will be judging us "on the curve." We know we don't measure up to God's perfect standard of righteousness. However, we're not as bad as most. We measure up pretty well against the average (in our estimation). Surely our works will be good enough to get us by on the Day of Judgment.
The problem is we're going to stand before a holy and just God that judges impartially. He judges us according to our works, and these do not even come close to justifying us before God (see the first three chapters of Romans).
Two applications:
- Lean on grace. We'll never be good enough. On our own we are helpless and hopeless.
- Don't relax. The tension of Romans is that while we should be confident in our salvation, we should not feel a sense of entitlement either. We're going to be judged impartially. We should therefore practice "patience in well doing" (Romans 2:7) ever striving to come closer and closer to the perfect standard of God's only Son (Romans 8:29).
Father, teach us to both fear your impartial judgment and trust your boundless grace that we might become more and more like Christ.
