BOTOX TO BANDANNAS, AND EVERYONE IN BETWEEN... NEXT!

Romans 3:22-24
This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to ALL who believe. There is NO DIFFERENCE between Jew and Gentile, for ALL HAVE SINNED AND FALLEN SHORT of the glory of God, and ALL ARE JUSTIFIED FREELY by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

I had to go to the courthouse last week because I got a ticket and forgot to pay it (gasp). There was now a warrant out for my arrest (double gasp). I know. I am a heathen. The ONLY way out was to pay a bail amount, which was a RIDICULOUS amount. I know California is broke, but come on! Don't make me pay for the incompetence of those running this place. I vote for the mavericks, so don't be taking me down with the ship by sticking it to me for a minor mistake in society. I wasn't going a 100mph! I will move on before I break out the violin for myself:)

I enter the courthouse. I immediately get searched and scanned. My first real feelings of guilt for this ticket come over me while an officer pats me down. My minor mistake is now realized as breaking the law. Wow, maybe I am a heathen. Court workers were yelling at all of us, trying to bring order to a big herd confused of how to correct, and find mercy for, the bad things we have done. In line I was sandwiched in between a guy with a bandanna lowered over his eyes wearing a shirt that read "born on the streets", AND a Hollywood starlet dressed in denim and diamonds (or rhinestones) looking like she just came from a botox party. People started having conversations about why they were there. As I was respectfully listening to a guy talk about how a stupid *beep *beep cop pulled him over for having a what they thought was drugs in the back of his *beep *beep car, I was shouted at by a female clerk who was ready to deal with my pathetic soul... "NEXT!"

I started to make excuses to her like she was the judge. All of a sudden, a guy who looked like he'd been in the sun for a century started yelling and making threats to the clerk at the next window. The cops jumped on him like a burning fire. For fear of cops jumping on me next, I forget making excuses and just asked for mercy. I owned being a heathen, breaking the law, and now I just want to pay for what I have done. She coldly told me to pay the bail. Ugh. I can't pay that amount. It's too high for me. I was explaining this, putting on puppy-dog eyes. She looked completely annoyed. Finally, a miracle happened. She lowered it... a little. At least it was something. I paid the reduced bail and left wondering how the starlet, and my homie who was "born on the streets", made out.

All of us in that courthouse were so different in so many ways, YET we were all waiting in the same line because well, we broke the law. We were waiting to plead for the same thing... mercy. As much as we judge each other ALL THE TIME for ALL KINDS OF THINGS, we are ALL in the SAME line. No matter what we look like, what socio-economic background we are in, or even the level of seriousness our "mistakes" are, the bible says that we are all sinners. All of us. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Whether we like to hear that or not is not even relevant, because that is a fact we will never be able to disprove based on opinion. However, it is also a fact that ALL our sins have been paid for by One who is more merciful than any clerk or court judge at the courthouse that heard our pleas for mercy that day. This Judge didn't just give us a little reduction in bail, He paid it Himself in full! Meaning, ANYONE who comes to him and just SIMPLY believes in this amazing truth and asks for forgiveness for those sins/shortcomings is COMPLETELY exonerated. Righteousness is then given in love and received by faith alone IN CHRIST. He is the One who is our court advocate and has paid in full the bail for us all. This promise isn't for just me, or my botox beauty, or my homie... it's for ALL.

NEXT!

Kim Winston Bigler
FREEtheINSIDE

(This entry is dedicated to my fellow lawbreakers who stood in line with me at the Chatsworth courthouse. His mercies are new each and every morning.)