The paragon of crims has died. Of Brian Curtis, today’s NZ Herald quotes:
“He’s the idealised type of criminal, the very likeable villain. There’s two types of criminals, the gentleman and the flea, and he’s the gentleman . . . He was a hard man and lived strictly by the criminal code – the code of silence, the code of respectability, of being uncompromising in his interests. He was honest, dignified, staunch; a real gentleman.”
Isn’t it like that with sinners generally. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All human beings have sinned. The obviously foul “flea” types murder and commit adultery and steal. The rest of us are the “gentleman” types. Either way, our end is the same – death and separation from God.
The wages of sin is death – but the free gift of God is eternal life because of Christ’s finished work on the cross.
It is easier for the flea types to know that something is wrong. The gentleman types are self-righteous, causing Lord Jesus to say: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Courage to tremble 