I know what you’re thinking. “I have broken every law.” That sounds pretty dramatic, right? But stick with me because there’s a good reason for it.

When we talk about the law, our minds usually go straight to the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20. Things like: “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not commit adultery.”

And if I’m honest, I can look at that list and say, “Okay, I’ve never physically murdered anyone.” So, am I in the clear? Not exactly. The truth is, I’m a sinner, and so are you.

My Story: Finding an Idol

After high school, I went to college for a year, but I ended up becoming really depressed. I felt like a complete failure. I couldn’t do anything right. In that season of hopelessness, I found comfort in something unexpected: food.

I started to use food as a way to cope with my feelings. It became my go-to for comfort and started to replace the role that God should have had in my life. I had made food an idol.

In that one example alone, I broke the first two commandments without even realizing it. I had other gods before God, and I was making an idol of something in my life. My story is just one example of how it’s so easy to break these laws without even realizing we’re doing it.

A Single Point Is All It Takes

This brings me to a powerful verse from James 2:10 (NIV): “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.”

This verse completely changed my perspective. It doesn’t matter if you’ve only broken one commandment physically. According to the Bible, the moment you stumble in one area, you’re guilty of breaking them all. In that sense, I’m just like you. We have all fallen short.

This might sound like terrible news, but trust me, it’s not. It’s the most important part of understanding the good news, found in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Since we can’t be perfect and we can’t follow every law, Jesus stepped in to do it for us. He lived a perfect, sinless life and died on the cross to pay the price for all of our sins—past, present, and future.

The Choice Is Yours

It’s not enough to just know this; we have to accept it. John 3:18 puts it very clearly: “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

So, the choice is ours. We can either stand condemned in our brokenness, or we can believe in Jesus and receive the gift of eternal life that He so freely offers.

My question for you today is simple: Will you accept and believe in Jesus?