Our pastor has been going through the book of Daniel with us and in Daniel chapter 5, there was something that really struck a chord with me. King Belshazzar is being cursed by God (through Daniel) and it was written on the wall for all to see: "MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN".
It was the word "TEKEL" that gave me pause. Verse 27 says it means "You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting".
You see, I am prone to feel like that...I "weigh" my marriage and see that I am found wanting in my submission to Bryan. I "weigh" my "mommyhood" and see all the ways I fall short in loving them with God's love. I "weigh" my prayer life and recognize my lack of depending on God and, instead, try to do those things in my own strength. When I "weigh" out my life, when I take a good look at the sin that so easily entangles my thoughts and actions...I see all that I am lacking, all that I want to be, but am not...and I can't help but see just how far short I fall of God's glorious standard. It can be a very discouraging place to be...in fact, for King Belshazzar, it meant death!
What I forget though is that, as a child of God, the word "TEKEL" has been replaced by 2 Corinthians 5:21, "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" and Isaiah 61:10, "I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness...".
Jerry Bridges said it beautifully in his book, "The Gospel for Real Life":
"There is nothing you will ever do that makes you acceptable to God. You must be accepted for Christ's sake, not only when you believe, but for all of your life. Regardless of how much you grow in Christ, you will never arrive at a point when your Christian character or conduct will make you acceptable to God. You will always be dependent upon the perfect righteousness of Christ. God will accept nothing else. That is why justification must be for us not only a past event, but a present reality."
As a lover of Jesus, the scales have been covered in the blood of Christ! To God be the glory, great things He hath done!!!
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