The fundamental story of the Bible is not, as it might seem in today’s reading, about judgment and punishment for transgressions, but the story of perfect love and overwhelming grace. So often, when reading God’s Word, passages like this call us to confront the depravity of our natures—looking into the mirror of who we are in the light of God’s perfection—and acknowledge our inability to measure up. It is only then that we can truly accept grace.