“Simul justus, et peccator, totus, totus” (Martin Luther).

In case you were wondering, this quote is Latin and can be translated as “Simultaneously both just and a sinner.”

I find out how very true that is in my own life on a daily basis. I can echo the words of Paul when he said that the good he wanted to do, he didn’t do, and the bad he didn’t want to do, he did.

I don’t think this expression is a license to indulge in sinful habits and choices. I do think that the reality is that as long as we live in the flesh in this life, we will battle the fleshly desires that still dwell within us.

The part I love is where God declares those of us who have put our faith in Christ to be just. It’s not a righteousness that comes from any part of who we are or what we do but is entirely from God and is completely the righteousness of Jesus given to us.

I see it as good reason not to get puffed up in thinking how spiritual I am simply because I’ve come to faith in Christ. I may be just in the eyes of God, but I also know that that sin nature that still dwells in me can rear its ugly head from time to time and at very inopportune moments.

The good news is that it won’t always be this way. God in Jesus has promised that He will finish the good work He started in me (and you). That’s not a wishful thinking kind of hope or a pie-in-the-sky fantasy kind of dream. Because God has said it, it’s already as good as done, as true as the God who has spoken it.

Lord Jesus, let it be done.