Good Thursday morning, my friends.
Human nature is a funny thing. The longer I am part of "the Church" the more tendancy I have to become confident in my own "righteousness". I become like the pharisee in Luke 18:9-13:
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'
Don't we all become a little like that sometimes? We see someone on the street who is panhandling or muttering to themselves and we think "Thank God I'm not like them!" Or we encounter someone who is arrogantly distainful about faith in God and we see ourselves as so much more enlightened, so much "better".
So what happens when I develop this righteous attitude? Inevitibly, I fail; I sin. And then I feel deep guilt and remorse and think that I am not worthy to be loved by God because, after all, God hates sin. (And by extension He hates sinners.) But why does God hate sin? Is it because it "offends" Him? I don't think so. I think God hates sin because He knows so much better than we do how it hurts us. He knows that when we sin we cause pain to ourselves and to others. He loves us too much to see us hurting.
We have to remember that the Church is NOT a place for "righteous people". It is a place for redeemed sinners. Yes we are redeemed, but we are still sinners. And I (we?) need to continually remind myself of that.
(I will be away tomorrow and Monday so you won't likely see another message from me until at least Tuesday. Have a wonderful weekend.)
Amazing Grace and Eternal Peace be yours,
Bruce
O Father,
Give us the humility which
realizes its ignorance, a
dmits its mistakes,
recognizes its need,
welcomes advice,
accepts rebuke.
Help us always to
praise rather than to criticize,
to sympathize rather than to discourage,
to build rather than to destroy,
and to think of people at their best rather than at their worst.
This we ask for thy name's sake.
William Barclay
 | Bruce MacPherson |
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