Romans 5:8: Pass The Buck, Harry!

"There is none righteous; no, not one...for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God", the Bible declares in Romans 3:10-24. Harry S. Truman, America's 33rd President, had a famous sign on his White House office desk, saying "THE BUCK STOPS HERE!".

It is human nature, to shift blame for one's failures and deficiencies over to other persons, entities or circumstances, ruefully wring hands, and with cock-sure acridity, to expound upon all possible "if onlys..." that come to mind. Our nation's 33rd President was a man of great brass and bravado, to impute to himself a more masterful acumen by which to dispense with proverbial slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. "Passing the buck" was simply too far beneath good-old Harry's hubris, given the responsibilities of the nation's highest public office.

But God's ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts(Isaiah 55:8-9). God has chosen things which are not, to bring to nought the things that are, so that no man(including Harry S. Truman)will glory in His presence(I Corinthians 1:27-29). The sin-debt man owes to God requires payment totally free of all corruption--a quality possessed by no man except the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

Could all responsibility for governmental debauchery, vice and irresponsible impropriety be finally placed onto the desk of any American President? Emphatically no, because he also is by nature sinful, and would "resolve" the troubles started by subordinate bureaucrats in a manner adding, rather than subtracting, sin from the equation. "Oh, Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walks, to correct his footsteps. Oh, Lord, correct me, but with judgement, not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing"(Jeremiah 10:23-24).

Pass the buck, Harry! Jesus Christ invites you to do that. He commended His love to you, in that while you were yet a sinner, Christ died for you(Romans 5:8). We walk by faith and not by sight, and so, you need not see evidence of this truth in order to believe it--even if you are from Missouri!

-LKM