A Perfect 10
Romanian gymnastics sensation Nadia Comaneci took the gymnastics world by storm in the 1970s. Crowds were mesmerized by her grace, her athleticism, and her off the charts skill and technique. They (and the judges) came to anticipate only the best performances from her. But no one — not the crowd, not the judges, not the arena techies, not even Nadia — was prepared for what happened when then 14 year old Nadia Comaneci took to the uneven bars at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games.
Nadia approached the bars with her usual, fiery determination. She executed her mount, each element, each transition, each flip, even the dismount to perfection. No, really! Perfection! No one, NO ONE had ever done that before!
“[Even the] scoreboard didn’t know what to do: it wasn’t able to display the four digits needed to show a row of 10.00s, because nobody had even conceived that it was possible.”
Nadia stood confused as she saw the 1.00 scores from each of the seven judges flashing on the board. It took a moment to sink in that she’d achieved what no one thought possible — a perfect 10!
The announcer exclaimed, “A 10 has gone on the board, and that’s perfection, that is Olympic history!”
“Once it was proved achievable, though, she couldn’t stop doing it: Comaneci got six more perfect tens as she swept to three gold medals (all around, uneven bars and balance beam) and international superstardom.”
When it comes to life, not one of us will ever achieve a perfect score. Scripture is clear, “We all like sheep have gone astray” (Isaiah 53:6, NIV). “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23, NLT).
But there is One who has achieved it! “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21, NIV), exchanging His perfect life, His perfect obedience for our own imperfect, sinful selves.
It’s so unexpected! We stand amazed, like the Olympic commentators, because "nobody had even conceived that it was possible."
We stare at the scoreboard, shocked to see that perfect score attributed to our performance.
Our sinful souls now stand justified in His presence. As such, all that we now do “in Him” will resound in the heart of the Father as perfection. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 ESV).
In Christ, we score a perfect 10!
“I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me” (Philippians 3:12, NLT).
Protecting Your Identity
Occasionally I will check my credit report to make sure no one has stolen my identity. On one occasion, I could not remember my user name for the Experian website. So, I clicked on the "Forgot Username" button to have it sent to me by e-mail.
Then they wanted my birthdate and my Social Security number. Ten minutes later the e-mail arrived with my username. I went back to the Experian website and logged in without any difficulty.
But logging in was not enough. I remained locked out until I typed in the six-digit number they texted to my phone. Finally, I was in and the screen said, "Thank you for helping keep your identity secure!"
Experian goes to great lengths to protect my identity. To log in as me, a thief would have to know my email, my login, my birthdate, my SS number, my cell number, and have my cell phone in their possession. If someone had all that information they would be able to impersonate me, take out loans in my name, and cause me great harm.
Of even greater value, though, is my identity in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "If any man be in Christ he is a new creature, old things are passed away, behold all things are become new." This new identity is also worth protecting.
According to Jesus, there is a thief who would like to steal this identity, and he does this by lying to us about who we are and what we have been given in Christ (John 10:10).
We must be vigilant to maintain a strong sense of our spiritual identity in Christ, at least as vigilantly as Experian fights to protect our personal identity in this world.
"For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:4,5, NKJV)
Woman Faces Court For Parking Two Seconds Too Early
Richard Hartley-Parkinson reports:
Known only as Sarah, she ended up in court after it emerged that she had broken parking rules by arriving at a bay two seconds too soon.
... Judge Frank Caprio from the Providence Municipal Court, read details of the case which stated that she had parked in a bay at 9.59am and 58 seconds.
Parking was not allowed in the area between 8am and 10am.
He told her in mock anger: ‘You violated the city ordinances.’ He added: ‘Our parking enforcement offices are second to none in the country.’
She explained her actions by saying her car clock said 10am.
Judge Caprio laughed the charge out of court in Rhode Island after hearing details of the case.
He said: ‘I think 9.59am is close enough to 10am, matter is dismissed.
Is this what you imagine will happen when you stand before God? Are you hoping that He will, likewise, release you from the finer details of His moral will?
That’s not how it will work. You will either stand before God to be judged by the minutest details of your non-compliance, including the thoughts and intents of your heart, or you will stand before Him having been credited with the minutest details of Christ’s compliance. There is no middle-ground. There is no third option. It's either law or grace. You decide!
“Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law” (Galatians 2:16).
"Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin" (Romans 3:20).