Ask any Christian,”What’s the best thing that has ever happened to you?” and they will quickly reply “Salvation”. Man’s greatest need is to receive Christ as Lord and Savior. Man’s greatest blessing is to do so. But this never happens until he first sees himself as a sinner. That is the first step to his best step. Until a person sees himself as a poor, wicked, wretched, vile, miserable, helpless sinner he will not turn to Christ. He must see the mess he is in before he will see his need for God’s mercy. Salvation comes only after we see ourselves as a sinner.
However, even after we are saved we are still troubled by sin–and we still struggle in admitting it. You can attribute that to pride. I know of no other explanation. We think too highly of ourselves and we want others to have exalted views of us also. So, wanting to put ourselves in the best possible light we refuse to be honest about our condition. That, of course, hinders us in numerous ways.
Seeing yourself as you really are, as God sees you, is crucial to becoming the person God wants you to be. In other words, you will never be as good as you could be until you realize that you’re not as good as you should be. To become the person we ought to be we must become dissatisfied with what we are. Don’t let pride hold you back. Why would you want to be anything less than your best?
Those on the road to ruin need to realize where they’re at so they can see the need to turn around–to repent. The only thing holding some people back from becoming the person they want to be is their refusal to admit what kind of person they are. When we see ourselves as guilty sinners in need of forgiveness we then see our need of God. When we come to Him for the forgiveness of sins, trusting Christ as our Savior, we have taken the best step of our lives!
It is a step that leads to forgiveness, eternal life, peace, joy and a transformation of character. We become “a new creature” (2 Cor. 5:17), and we start a new journey that provides the satisfaction that nothing else can bring. And it all started because you took the first step to your best step! What are you waiting for?
