|
From the Pastor:
We are now into this year's observance of the Lenten season. As most of you know, Lent is traditionally a season for believers to contemplate their sinful condition, renew their desire for confession and repentance, and seek a reaffirmation of God's mercy and forgiveness in Jesus Christ.
But I sometimes wonder whether we take sin seriously anymore. Let me offer an illustration. Why do some spouses miss all the signs of their spouse's infidelity? Why do alcoholics and other drug abusers typically go through years of denying their problem? Why is the revelation of incest an astonishment to people who are living right in the middle of it? How do adulterers convince themselves that all the wreckage in their wake is really temporary? Why do battered women go back again and again to brutal men who keep insisting that each incident is the last?
I John 1:8 says, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." In particular, we deceive ourselves about our sin. Do we sin in spite of ourselves? Do we always have good intentions? Are our sins usually accidents? Are we generally at least aiming right when we miss the mark? Are we bewildered by our sin?
No. We deceive ourselves. Let's face the truth. At times even redeemed people purposely plunge themselves into sin. In fact, we use a diving board. We go in head first, eyes wide open. We commit sin. And we often like it. Half-desperate or merely rebellious, we go after the pleasure we think some sin will bring. Sometimes we even take pride in a particular sin and try to defend it. Can we honestly say we have never relished putting down another human being - and then defended the put-down by claiming that the person "had it coming"? We sin. We commit sin. And sin is no joke. The memory of our sins of commission is not the occasion for a wink or a shrug. Sin needs confession. And confession of sin is like taking out the garbage. Once is not enough.
"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us."
Blessings,
Pastor Mauri
|
