We can never be good enough to earn our salvation, but Jesus died to give it to us.   #theloriclineshow   Interested in learning more about becoming a devoted follower of Christ? Go to follow.lifeword.org!   ~~~   Are you a dog person or a cat person? We are dog people, but I will say I love ALL animals.  We ADORE our pets, don’t we? In 2020, the pet industry hit a record sales of 103 Billion dollars. We often care for and love on our pets way more than we do people! It’s true.  We have two dogs, Roxy and Ruby. We love them dearly. They’re good dogs, until they’re not. They’re potty trained to go outside. They can sit, lay down and play fetch. But… they are animals. Animals often do bad things. Roxy likes to eat lizards, baby rabbits and turtles. She will also play with frogs and chipmunks until they die. She loves to go on adventures in the woods beyond our yard if her invisible fence collar is not working. No matter how mean you sound trying to get her to come back, she will stop, look at you, turn back around and keep on walking. So naughty. Ruby loves to eat ANYTHING she can get her little teeth on. She has chewed up shoes, books, pens, shirts, a brand new backpack and so much more. Once she chewed up the leather corners of my Bible, but I guess I really couldn’t be mad because she was feeding on the word, right? I had to do that.  Here’s my point, dogs are good, until they’re not. They can also be really bad. Do we sometimes describe people the same way? He’s a good person. She’s a good person. They do good things. They give, serve, love and are kind. Those ARE good things, but what about all the times he or she may NOT be a good person or may NOT do good things? We don’t like to focus on that do we?  The reason we don’t is because we don’t want to come face to face with the true condition of our human heart, which IS, we are DEAD in our SIN, apart from Christ. See Ephesians ch 2. What God created in the beginning was good, but then a choice was made.  Genesis 2:17 You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die. God’s words to Adam and Eve in the garden were not unclear. When you eat from it, you WILL certainly die. Everything was good, until it wasn’t.  Dr David Jeremiah describes it this way, “Satan was the original violator of the righteousness of God, but sin entered the world through Adam and death entered the world through sin.” While we are responsible for our own choices and sin, we are born into the family of a fallen human race. Adam’s sin brought death to the world and there is not enough good any man or woman can do to wipe that away.  Romans 3:23 says “ALL” have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  Here’s the good news,  2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.   It may be difficult for you to see yourself as a sinner and you may do a lot of good things, but the Bible makes it so clear, you could never be good enough to be made right with a holy God apart from the perfect sacrifice of Jesus on a cross. Without Him, you are dead IN your sin.  That’s the truth.    Take an inventory as you think about how good you really are. Go to Exodus 20 and brush up on the ten commandments. Next, go to the words of Jesus who then took those laws much deeper in Matthew chapter five. Scroll on down to the parts about murder, lust and envy in your heart and then the part about loving our enemies.  The truth is we are all sinners, in need of a savior. Thank God, where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. I’m SO thankful for amazing grace that is greater than all my sin.   I’m Lori Cline.