"For whoever shall keep the whole law,
and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all."
James 2:10
Two boys were playing baseball in the backyard. As one boy hit the ball with his bat, it broke a window in the house. His mother heard the noise and came to see the damage. He quickly said, "Mother, I'm sorry. I didn't do it on purpose." She was upset and said, "You disobeyed me. I told you not to play baseball in the backyard. Wait until your dad gets home."
Those words struck fear in him, because he had disobeyed. When his dad arrived, he said, "Son, it's done now, but let this be a lesson to you, that you must obey your mother." The boy quickly agreed.
We have all broken the law of God in one way or another (Romans 3:23). Just to break God's law in one point is to be guilty of all. It's like breaking a window. You can't just break a part of a window. It's either broken or it's not.
The word sin means to miss the mark. The boy missed the mark with the baseball. It went where he didn't intend for it to go. He willfully disobeyed his mother. All sin is disobedience. He went to play ball in the place where she told him not to go. Trespassing God's law means we have gone where we should not go.
The purpose of the law is to show us our sin. It is when we see our hopeless situation in the law of God, that we are invited to come to God's mercy and grace in Christ Jesus. As a father still loves a son who disobeys, God loves us (Romans 5:8). He has made a way to restore the damage of our disobedience through the cross of Christ. Jesus paid the price for our disobedience. That's called grace. It is the gift of God, and we receive it by faith.
God, we receive Your grace in Christ.
