Each moment I am… farther

The tennis player ROGER FEDERER is the one who won the most “Grand Slam” tournaments in history (six times winner in Wimbledon). He is one of the best four or five players of all times.

In a recent interview he revealed one of his “secrets”: “I go to every match thinking that I could lose… Almost always I think that I will be defeated if I do not give it all… I always want to improve everything do”.

Improve. This should be the aim of all people, to improve at work, at home, in society... There are very few who do not care about staying in the same place year after year. The key word is improve. This is the world's aspiration, the dream of young people, in studies and at work, in sport too.

It is a worthy motivation, but it may also be dangerous if we apply it to spiritual matters. Many men and women throughout history have tried to reach God by their own efforts. Many have tried to improve their lives so as to make themselves more acceptable to God. Many, even today, are working with all their strength so that God will accept them, to be worthy of God.

And they do not notice that all the time they are actually ... further away. Because it is impossible to be good enough to enter God's presence. We would have to be perfect like him. God himself says: "Although you wash yourself..." Whatever we try to do in our own strength, our sin will prevent us from reaching God.

In the same way, we cannot do anything for those who have already died. If God does not allow us to save ourselves, then we will be even less able to save someone else! The Bible teaches that each person will carry his own sin, and that no matter how hard we try we will never be able to do anything to save ourselves or others.

Even worse, the very act of trying this, separates us even more from God - because we are disobeying him. No matter what we do, our sin remains before God. No matter how much we try to influence him with our money or energy, remember that God does not tolerate blackmail.

God left the way clearly marked: Jesus. He died in our place so that we could be declared just, the moment we believe in him. And he did it for everyone - for you too. If you were the only person on earth that had sinned, Jesus would still have died on the cross for you. What will be your answer now? Only those who accept what Jesus did are saved. Imagine you are in jail and someone comes and pays the bail for each captive: some believe it and some don't.

You do and leave free, but some think it is a dream and stay in jail. It is not a matter of being better. The matter is accepting what God did for us. For you.