Don't Open This Card! (NIV)

“Oh No! Now you did it!” “What? What happened?” “You weren’t supposed to open this card!” “So? What does that mean?” “You disobeyed the instructions!” “Hey! What’s the big deal?” “It’s just that disobeying the rules is everywhere… even on a small scale like opening this card. In fact, disobedience is a trait that characterizes all people.” “Now, wait a minute. It’s just a card. I’m not that bad. And neither is the person reading this card.” “Oh no?” “I mean I do more good things than bad.” “You think that you acceptable to God?” “Well, yeah, I’m basically a pretty good person.” “According to the Bible, God’s requirement is perfection.” “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48)” “Perfection? Nobody’s perfect!” “Oh no? Jesus is.” “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of god. (2 Corinthians 5:21)” “But I’ve never done anything major that was wrong. My disobedience is no greater than opening this card.” “In your eyes maybe, but not God’s. “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. (James 2:10)” “Are you saying that just because someone opened a card when they were told not to, they are going to Hell?” “What I’m saying is, no matter how big or small our sins, we all fall short of God’s perfect standard.” “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)” “You mean God doesn’t weigh our good deeds against our bad?” “Like a school teacher grading on a curve? Not hardly.” “If that were true, then where would the cut off point be? On the ladder rung just below you?” “That’s what I was hoping.” “God’s not that arbitrary.” “Then what hope is there?” We’re all doomed!” “Aaahhh!... The answer is found in the only perfect person to walk the earth, Jesus Christ, God’s Son. His sacrificial death on the cross paid the penalty for our disobedience to make us perfect in God’s sight.” “...We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all… … Because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy… … Then He adds: “their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” (Hebrews 10:10,14, 17)” “I get it. God can see us as perfect now because of Christ. Is that it?” “One more thing.” “We each need to receive this message and place our total trust in Christ as a result. He died for you and then rose from the grave to give you eternal life.” “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:3,4)” “God, thank you for sending Your Son Jesus to die on the cross for my sins. I now place my total trust in Christ to save me from my sin and give me eternal life. Amen.” “If you prayed this prayer, Don’t put down this card! Tell somebody. Fill out this decision panel and send it to the address below.”