There are a lot of things I could do to my 1997 Chevy Lumina to make it better. I could get new hub caps that don’t rattle around. I could patch the holes in the fenders, get a new hood, replace the cracked windshield, reupholster the interior… But even if I did all of these, I would still have a 1997 Chevy Lumina, a far cry from a new car. Better is good, but not good enough.
Or how about the old man that can hardly hobble around because of the pain in his worn-out knee. Knee replacement is common anymore and it would feel so much better to get rid of that pain and be able to walk again, BUT… after the surgery, the pain in his other knee will become more noticeable, his back will still ache, he will still struggle with his bifocals, he will still take his blood pressure and heart medications, and he will still have all the aches and pains of an old man. Better is good, but not good enough.
And then there is the problem of sin that we all have. Like it or not, we all have failed God’s standard and succeeded in making a mess of our lives to some degree. We could pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and make amends for the things that we have done wrong, one at a time, and try really hard to be a better person, BUT… it would be impossible for us to fix every mistake and impossible for us to fix all the damages and remove all the consequences of our reckless past, present, and future. Furthermore, it would be impossible for us to ever ascend to God’s holy standard, no matter how hard we try – our bootstraps just aren’t long enough! No matter how hard we try to be as holy and perfect as God, we will always end up as sinners. You can be a better person and better is good, but not good enough.
We can’t get a new car by fixing our old one and we can’t get a new body by going to the hospital. Neither can we get a sinless soul by striving for perfection. BUT… we can accept God’s offer of forgiveness and His eternal plan of salvation. We can accept Jesus’ perfect death on the cross to replace our debt of sin. We can be judged by Jesus’ righteousness, which is holy through and through, instead of by our unrighteousness, which the Bible says is “as filthy rags.” When we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we do not become better sinners, because better is not good enough for God. When we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we become a new creation.
“But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags…” Isaiah 64:6
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17