Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight. (Psalm 51:2-4a, NKJV)
The husband wanted to play golf with his buddies on Sunday mornings, but his wife wanted him to go to church, and that’s what he did. Then one weekend she had to go out of town to take care of some family business.
That Sunday he played golf with his pals. Of course he knew the question was coming, and he was ready when she called that night.
“Did you go to church this morning?”
“Yes, Dear.”
“What did the preacher talk about?”
Without a pause he said, “Sin.”
“Sin? What did he say about it?”
“He was against it.”
While most preachers are still against sin, that answer wouldn’t have much credibility in 2018, because it is rare to hear a sermon on the topic. People are touchy these days about such things, and woe to the preacher who offends a member of the congregation by implying that things might be just a little less than perfect between him and God.
When you add God’s love for you to your understanding of sin, an important change takes place.Sin may be out, but love is in, because it really is true that God loves us miles and miles beyond anything we can grasp. We speak much of God’s love for us, but we don’t seem to talk a lot about our love for God, even though it is the greatest commandment of all.
My slight cynicism aside, I am in favor of love and I am against sin. Interestingly, the two go together in a very important way. Allow me to explain.
Most of us think of sin as breaking God’s laws. God says, “Don’t do that,” and we do it, or he says, “Do this,” and we don’t do it. We call such behavior sin.
Of course, Christians do not live under the Law, but most of us still have a set of rules or laws to which we hold ourselves accountable. There are two reasons why that desensitizes us to sin.
First, breaking rules and laws is something we’ve been doing since we knew they were there to break. We are expert rulebreakers. Second, direct consequences for breaking even God’s rules seem distant or completely unlikely. I’m not saying we don’t notice that we have sinned. We may even ask for forgiveness, though sometimes we just move on.
But when you add God’s love for you to your understanding of sin, an important change takes place. Add love and you will no longer think of sin as breaking God’s laws, you will think of sin as breaking God’s heart.
King David understood that after Nathan the prophet gave him a clear picture of how his actions in the matter of Uriah and Bathsheba looked to God (in 2 Samuel 11 and 12).
In response David wrote Psalm 51 to God, and said, “Against you, and you only, have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight.” It is a powerful statement—one we can feel when we read it.
The question is, can I feel it when I am the one who breaks God’s heart?
—
Lewis Greer
July 12, 2018
Copyright 2018 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.