No One Does Good, No, Not Even One

Readings:
Psalm 14
Galatians 2:17-21

Focus:
Psalm 14:3: "But all are unfaithful, altogether corrupt; no one does good, no, not even one."

Psalm 14 paints a pretty bleak picture of the human race. The first verse says that "everyone is depraved, every deed is vile; no one does good!"

Our first reaction is to think, "Hey, that's not true! I'm a pretty good person, darn it!"

But in reality, when we truly think about it, we're just not perfect. We do stuff wrong. We may be kind to our neighbors and give to all sorts of good causes and raise fine children and devote time to worthy endeavors. But sometimes we say unkind things to people. Sometimes we fail to do a helpful thing we should have done. Sometimes we take something for ourselves when we should have left it for someone else.

The truth is, no matter how nice we are, compared to God, who is perfect, we are just plain corrupt. That's why we need God to save us, because we just can't do it ourselves. As the psalm says in a later verse, the Lord is our refuge. How good that is!