Not Even Close
When weight-lifting, one of the more common exercises we tend to focus on bench-pressing. It’s a real good workout for the chest muscles and the upper body as a whole.
With bench-pressing heavy weights, it is always a good idea to have a spotter who will be ready to help you lift the barbell in case you aren’t able to push it up on your own. It sure beats the alternative of being pinned on the bench under a heavy weight. 
Sometimes, I will get a little too ambitious, and try to lift something that I have no real chance of putting up. Before long, I chirp “Help.” I might not even get the weight up five or 10 percent of the way.
There are other times, though, when I am so — so close – to pushing the weight up, yet I need assistance to get me over the top. I might be 95 percent of the way there, yet I just don’t have it in me to close the deal.
Those second times end up being the most frustrating, because I was extremely close to having done it all on my own, without help from anyone. It’s sad to have to get help at that point, because I am just inches from accomplishing it on my own.
While this is a good approach when it comes to weight-lifting, often I find myself starting to use the same way of thinking when it comes to my sin and God’s mercy.
It’s easy to assume that I’m just inches away from perfection. If only I could be a little more disciplined, a little more patient, a little gentler. Patch a couple of occasional holes, and we’re good to go. I’d be totally perfect, and wouldn’t need help from anybody!
But what I fail to realize is that, even on my absolute best day, I am STILL falling well short of God’s standard. I’m never even CLOSE to where I should be.
It’s not that I’m just an inch away from getting that weight back on the bar; instead, the weight is an inch away from squashing me completely.
Isaiah 64:6:
“And all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.”
Even on a record day for me, it’s still pitiful compared to what God has required of me. It’s like trying to leap across a canyon. I may jump five feet on one day, eight on a better day, but either way I’m not landing anywhere near that other edge.
So this could be discouraging, to realize that I’m actually much, much worse than I thought. But it actually is very freeing for me, because it forces me to cling to Jesus for everything. I realize that I just have absolutely no chance without His help. I’m not even close on my own. Without the blood of Jesus covering my sins, I’m toast, even on my very best days.
While perfection still is and still should be the goal, remembering this does help me deal with all my imperfections. This doesn’t cause me to want to relax the standard at all. Instead, I am so thankful for all that I have been forgiven of and the great mercy I’m experiencing every day, and I just want to show my gratitude by striving to please God more and more.
This also reinforces just how patient God is with me. He doesn’t constantly remind me, “Hey, Luke, now just remember: You are a wretch, and don’t you forget it!” No… instead, He is always reminding me how much He likes me. He’s almost saying, “Relax. You weren’t ever even close. But I still love you anyway!” It helps me not beat myself up too much whenever my human tendencies or weaknesses start to show.
This, obviously, is no Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card or an excuse to sin. I still want to do all I can to be obedient in every way. But it is very reassuring to know that, on my own, I never even had a chance to begin with. It’s mercy, it has always been mercy, and that’s my only hope in the future, is more mercy.