It was very hard for me to understand when preachers talked about sin and sinners just how to place myself in that broad stroke of the pen. Having been raised in a home where we always went to church and our family friends were Christians, what was a sinner? Being so protected by father and mother, I just couldn’t see myself as a sinner. I would hear about people who drank or used drugs or both etc., and then they hit a brick wall and suddenly made a decision to follow Christ. I just didn’t have those kinds of experiences. So as a young person I really did listen to the preacher in my church, I paid attention to the Sunday School teacher. I did read my Bible and in fact, one of my favorite places to read was in Romans 8:35-39.

Finally, Romans 3:23, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” became the go to verse for me. I looked at others and measured myself against their sins and I looked pretty good. But through my understanding of this verse, I know that I fit into the “all” category. Once I received that understanding, John 3:16 became clearer to me. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that WHOEVER (that includes me) believes (and keeps on believing) in Him should not perish but has eternal life.” This is a promise.