We don’t need to open up the Bible to realize that evil is a global epidemic. It’s even readily observable in each of our own hearts: “for all have sinned” (Romans 3:23).
What we may not realize is how God views even the slightest misdeed, indiscretion, or moral inconsistency in our lives; He calls it sin.
For instance, if someone lived a nearly perfect life before God—one in which during 80 years of life, only one sin was ever committed (like lying once when you were six years old)—that person is still a condemned sinner and must be judged: “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). And the problem with being guilty of sin is that, according to God’s standard of purity and holiness, the punishment is death: “and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12).
