Lawbreaker

I don't normally think of myself as a lawbreaker, but I am. On several occasions, I have unintentionally run a red light or stop sign. On other occasions, I have actually broken the law intentionally. When I was in high school, I had to drive across town for my piano lesson. We had had a wet snow, and the streets were very messy. When I stopped at the light at one end of a bridge, my windshield wipers finally got the slop off the windshield so I could see. Since the old car had no windshield washer, I told myself that no one was going to pass me on the bridge and mess up my windshield again. I accelerated quickly to 35 mph, which was the speed limit. The car on my left began inching past me. I sped up to 40 mph. It started to pass me again. I accelerated to 45 mph and was thinking of going a bit faster when we came to the stop light on the other end of the bridge. I looked over to see who dared to break the speed limit and mess up my windshield. It was a policeman! He was looking straight ahead. I quickly did the same. I turned right at the next light and breathed a sigh of relief.

I had not made a habit of breaking the law, but I had broken the law. I was a lawbreaker. I had obeyed the law more often than I had broken the law, but I had broken the law. I was a lawbreaker. I may have broken the law less often than many others, but I had broken the law. I was a lawbreaker. James says,

For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
-- James 2:10 NIV

Sin is breaking God's law. John writes,

Everyone who sins breaks the law.
1 John 3:4 NIV

I have sinned (we all have). That means I have broken God's law and become a lawbreaker. I have sinned unintentionally, but I have sinned. I have also sinned intentionally. I may console myself by saying that the good I have done is greater than the sin I have committed, but the fact remains that I sinned. I may even argue that I am better than others because I have and sinned less often than them, but I have still sinned. I am a lawbreaker. Before God, I am guilty. I may not "feel" guilty, but feeling does not determine guilt. Before God, I am guilty for one reason and one reason only. I am guilty because I have broken God's law. I am a lawbreaker.