So I was on the phone trying to set up a court date to fight off $270 worth of STUPID traffic tickets. We were up surfing at San Onofre, and this officer gives me TWO tickets at once:
1. "Failing to Signal".
Failing to SIGNAL! Is that even a law? I seriously thought signaling was just courtesy.
2. Going 35mph on a 25mph street. But come on, who actually drives 25mph? That's unrealistic.
Everyone does 35.
And so as I'm waiting for the teleprompt to get me to a live person to schedule a date where I can go and fight my case, I'm thinking of what I can say to the Judge that will get me off the hook. Then I come across some unfortunate realizations.
I broke the law. Bottom line. Whether I was going 35 or 135, the law is 25, and I transgressed. And in the "failing to signal" case, can't I just tell the judge I didn't know? Plead with him to let me go since no one ever told me that failing to signal is against the law? I asked my lawyer friend if this would fly, and he said to me, "Greg, ignorance is inexusable. Whether you know it or not, the law is there, and the law stands."
I broke the law. The only way i can go free is if somehow the judge finds it in himself to have mercy on me. To have pity on me and show some compassion. But if he doesn't, he has every right to make me pay the penalty. I'm guilty. It's a hard reality.
But what's $270? It's a WHOLE lot I tell you! But the truth is, it's not the end of the world. I'll get over it. More serious than $270 is the fact that we all stand as sinners, every one of us. We're guilty of breaking God's law, the standard that He's set. Our penalty is eternal conscious torment while we are physically and spiritually separated from God.
Whether we've broke God's law just once, or once a day for everyday of our life, the fact is, we broke it. We're guilty. And we can't plead ignorance, because whether or not we know what God's Law says, whether or not we've ever read His word, the Law stands. And we've transgressed.
The ONLY way that we can go free is if somehow the Great Judge finds it in himself to have mercy on us. To have pity on us and show us compassion. Bit if He doesn't, He has every right to make us pay the penalty.
But here's the FANTASTIC news. He
has found it in Himself to be merciful. He
does have pity on us. He
has shown us compassion. The Judge Himself, Jesus Christ the Son of God, steps down from His position, pays the penalty for our guilt and serves the sentence. Christ did this for us when He died for us, bearing the weight of our sin and the wrath of His Father. But He was made alive and exalted back to His rightful place as Judge and King. And He says that if we would believe that He paid for our crime, that the penalty has been paid, we will be freed. Let go. Forgiven.
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Paul, Romans 3:23-24
