A Rose By Any Name

Romans 3:23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

Two star-crossed lovers, yearning to be together, find themselves right in the middle of a real family feud. Their families, the Montagues and Capulets, are sworn enemies. Romeo can’t help but love Juliet, though. Needless to say, there is tension.

In the famous “Romeo, O Romeo, were for art thou?” speech, Juliet implores Romeo to forget his family name. Romeo’s line is just as famous: “What's in a name? That which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet.”

In other words, call it what you want, but it is what it is.

We do that a lot with sin. When we sin we want to call it a slip, or a mistake. We try to explain it away because of society, or the morals of the time. Call it what you want, but sin is sin.

Abraham Lincoln used to ask people, “If you call a dog’s tail a leg, how many legs does a dog have?” Most people would answer five. Then Lincoln would answer, “No, a dog has four legs, calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg.”

Calling your sin anything but sin doesn’t change it, it is still missing God’s mark. If you want to be right with God you must quit trying to excuse away your sin and repent of it. Only then can you grow as a Christian.

Today’s Readings: 1 Kings  8; 2 Chronicles 5; Psalm 99; Romans 3