The roof will Cave In

I'm sure you've heard the expression before. people say something to the effect of "If I were ever to enter a church, the roof would cave in on me." I've heard it plenty of times. I was thinking this morning about this statement and something occurred to me. People who say this are so much closer to the truth than they realise. Do I mean the roof really will collapse on them? No, of course not. But here is what they are really acknowledging by saying this:

1. There is a supernatural power. If the roof were to collapse then there must be a God of some sort, whose wrath they fear. That's a big first step.
2. They are recognising their own sinfulness. The implication is that the roof would collapse because they are unworthy to be in the presence of a Holy God. This is also true - in fact - none of us deserve to be in His presence.
3. They are just missing one thing...

The people in the Bible understood God's righteousness and Holiness. They had a fear that if they ever saw God face to face they would die instantly - because He was so good - and they were so lacking in goodness. There are many wonderful people in the world, but if we are honest, we know that the greatest of us pales in comparrison to any holy God worthy of the name - because we know that we are flawed beings. As the Bible puts it: "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

So - if God is so good - and we are so lacking - why doesn't the roof collapse? Well this comes back to the one thing that is missing: God's mercy and grace. He poured out all that punishment onto His own son, so that we could be forgiven.

No, the roof doesn't collapse in on anybody's head - because it already collapsed on Jesus' head; and that was enough.