July 7

We try so hard. Why do we disappoint ourselves so often? If it were our sincere effort alone that could keep us on the path He desires for us, we’d never stumble upon it or stray from it. But in reality, we do stumble and stray—we sometimes wonder from it entirely. We know we’re helpless to follow Him. What can we do?

We come back to this question again and again. Each of our new resolutions results in our recognition of its insufficiency to overcome the dilemma we face. As Paul stated so simply yet eloquently, “The good I would do, I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do…O wretched man that I am! Who can deliver me…?” (Romans 7:19-24)

Jude 1:24 offers the solution. It is found in many places in the Word, but He states it succinctly, “He is able to keep you without stumbling or falling, and He is able to present you faultless before the presence of His glory in triumph and joy.” He—Jesus—is the solution to our dilemma.

What none of us can accomplish on our own—living lives that please a holy God—Jesus does in our behalf. The price none of us can pay for the salvation we need has been supplied in full. There is nothing Almighty God requires of us that is not fully supplied by the unspeakable Gift in the nail-scared hand of Jesus.