Swimming Lessons

Here is the gist I got from some reading the other day on righteousness and Christian faith:



Imagine the entire human race is standing on the California coast preparing for a contest. The contest is a swimming race to Hawaii.



As the gun fires, everyone jumps in. About twenty five miles in front is a professor. She's a good person, trys to do what is right, has good morals, gives what she can to others, but would be the first to say she is far from perfect. About ten miles behind her is a man. He's an average sort of guy, blue collar. He gets in scrapes from time to time, cheats and lies occasionally, but all in all he's ok. And a few hundred feet off shore, struggling to stay afloat, is a derelict. There just isn't much good about this guy.



Now scattered throughout all these folks is the rest of the human race. We can see there is an obvious difference in the distances between the first person and the last. An enormous one. But really and truly, what's the difference in terms of getting to Hawaii from California? In the end all are going to drown.



A set of swimming instructions won't help at this point. We need someone who will take us to Hawaii, because even if we know exactly how to get there by way of instruction, there is no way we can actually manage it.



We cannot live perfect lives. We can try to always do the right thing, live the right kind of life, but there isn't a single one who isn't going to fail and drown in some way. Which means we aren't going to make it to heaven on our own. And all other religions are essentially those swimming instructions, suggested codes of ethics for living a good life.



But our main problem is not in not knowing what we are supposed to do, it is actually lacking the power to do so.



However, we have someone who because of His death and resurrection for us, does for us what we cannot possibly do ourselves.