The first sentence of the story was so surprising I had to read it twice. It went like this: "A police union in California has come under scrutiny after giving its 2020 Officer of the Year Award to a cop who didn't work a day in 2020."
Turns out that the officer was on paid leave from September 2019 to April 2021 after "higher-up in the department" according to the story in World Magazine, "accused him of spending a year investigating a simple domestic abuse case with little to show for it and bilking the city our of 42 hours of overtime pay."
Seems unbelievable, right? Who gets honored for having done nothing? Who receives an award for sitting at home and collecting a pay check. A city council member asked the mayor why the ceremony was still scheduled, given the circumstances? The response? "(Union officials) have invited family members and ordered a cake."
When I first read the story, I had to shake my head. How does a person get chosen for an award when it's so obvious they didn't deserve it? Then I realized that that very same thing happened to me.
I have in my office at home a golf trophy that was awarded to the first place team. I was a member of that team. And I didn't swing a golf club one time/
I was having back problems so playing a round of golf was out. But my teammates urged me to ride in a cart and enjoy the spring day. At the end of the round, our team shot the lowest score, won the tournament, and was awarded trophies.
I was included in the picture of the winning team. But I did nothing to earn the trophy.
Winning a trophy is one thing. How about winning eternal life?
The Bible teaches that if a person wishes to earn eternal life they must live a perfect life. That's harsh. We're shut down before we get started. But that's what God demands. Leviticus 19:2 reads, Be holy for I the Lord am holy.
None of us have lived that life, that perfect, holy life. Paul wrote to the Romans in 3:23, All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
No matter how hard we try, we can never do enough to win eternal life. Our works are tainted by our sins.
We can't save ourselves. But Jesus can save us.
Jesus - true God and true man - lived the perfect life that God demands - in our place. Then Jesus died on the cross - paying for all our sins - in our place. On the third day, Jesus rose from the dead. His resurrection guarantees our redemption and a place in heaven. All this is ours through simple faith in Jesus.
We contribute nothing to our salvation but our sins - we give them to Jesus and he gives back to us His perfect righteousness.
Jesus takes the rap for our sins. We do nothing but get everything - forgiveness of sins, peace with God, a place in heaven, eternal life spent in the presence of Jesus.
Romans 6:23 is a sweet Bible verse - The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I keep that golf trophy as a reminder. As I did nothing to win it, the trophy also reminds me that I did nothing to win my salvation. Jesus did it all and He makes you and me winners.
That's a pretty good thought to begin the day with. God bless your day!
