Yes...far more flawed than I dare can imagine BUT so loved and valued!!

"None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks God.   All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;  no one does good, not even one."   Romans 3:11-12 Glued to my TV over the recent events... unspeakable events.  I am horrified...scared.  People, ordinary people like me doing the unspeakable.   It brought to mind a story I heard years ago, and so I looked to find the story... to make sure it was not an "urban legend."  It's about a survivor of Auschwitz.  His name was Yehiel De-Nur and he testified at the Adolf Eichmann trial.   A film clip from that trial showed "Dinur walking into the courtroom, stopping short, seeing Eichmann for the first time since the Nazi had sent him to Auschwitz eighteen years earlier. Dinur began to sob uncontrollably, then fainted, collapsing in a heap on the floor as the presiding judicial officer pounded his gavel for order in the crowded courtroom. Was Dinur overcome by hatred? Fear? Horrid memories? No; it was none of these. Rather, as Dinur explained to (Mike) Wallace ("60 Minutes" aired February 6, 1983), all at once he realized Eichmann was not the godlike army officer who had sent so many to their deaths. This Eichmann was an ordinary man. 'I was afraid about myself,' said Dinur. '. . . I saw that I am capable to do this. I am . . . exactly like he.' He summarized his feelings by saying, 'Eichmann is in all of us.'"   Bible says the same thing....  Romans 3:13-18 ~ "Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.  The venom of asps is under their lips.  Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.  Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.  There is no fear of God before their eyes."   Romans 3:23 ~ "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..."   Romans 6:23 ~ "For the wages of sin is death..."  Can't get away from that truth, as much as I hate it.  All means all ... All includes me. No matter how I try to spin it ...  I'm included.  Before a Holy and Just God I am condemned.. my sins have earned me death ... hell, separation from God for all eternity.  Selah. Someone said:  "We are far more flawed and far more sinful than we can dare imagine." BUT... the Bible has more to say....Romans 6:23 ..  "but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Ephesians 2:8 ~ "For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no  one may boast." "Wretched man that I am!  Who will deliver me from this body of death?   Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!"  Romans 7:25 And there is salvation in no one else,  for there is no other name under heaven given among mean by which we must be saved.   Acts 4:12 Jesus said on the cross, "It is finished!"  Paid in full!  From horror and fear to flat on my face before the Lord, grateful ... that JESUS, The Creator of everything...the Word became flesh, gave His life for our sins... for my sins.... ...the Just for the unjust  ...that He might bring us -- me! to God..  Yes... far more flawed and far more sinful that I can dare imagine BUT  "...I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me." (Timothy Keller)