The Critical Moment

Consider this: If Jesus had not become human, been raised as a young man, lived a sinless life and died for us, where would you be? For my part, not having been born as a Jewish woman, I would most likely be a pagan, worshipping false gods, and living by superstition in hopes of appeasing whatever family idols we feared.

Beth Moore and her daughters, I recently heard, have a term they've used throughout the years to describe a distinct moment in time; they call it "the critical moment". Amanda (Beth's daughter) writes, "The critical moment occurs in the seconds between getting your hair exactly how you want it and then sealing it with hairspray. The Moore world stops spinning during the critical moment."

Today, I read this: "While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly." (Romans 5:6)

Do you notice that this is precisely the opposite situation from the hairspray example? With the Moore's critical moment, they take something that is lookin' good, and hope it doesn't deflate before getting the fixative applied so that it will not change. But without Christ's death and resurrection, we were not in a state of lookin' good. Our only hope was that something miraculous would happen in that critical moment and turn things around for us.

And He did it. "As one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men." (Romans 5:18) That one act of righteousness happened--"at the right time"--so that all men could have hope of perfection. It was not that we were already perfect and He just sealed it for us, like hairspray, but rather, we were lost in our sin, wandering aimlessly and hopelessly, and His life, death, and resurrection gives us purpose, hope, and eternal life. Praise Him for the blessing of that critical moment!