Do you ever wonder what it would be like if we could de-junk our personal lives from the burdens that we carry? Wouldn't it be lovely to be able to put our emotional baggage out for collection?
Some of that feeling we have of emotional baggage comes from having unresolved sin in our lives. I want you to listen to some words from the prophet Micah that reveal a wonderful image of God. Here they are:
"What god can compare with you: taking fault away, pardoning crime, not cherishing anger for ever but delighting in showing mercy? Once more have pity on us, tread down our faults, to the bottom of the sea throw all our sins. Grant Jacob your faithfulness, and Abraham your mercy, as you swore to our fathers from the days of long ago." JB
That sounds like a God that cares for us and wants us to succeed doesn't it? And what a beautiful image "tread down our faults to the bottom of the sea."
Before we go further with that thought we need to ask ourselves what is sin? In the original language of the NewTestament the Greek word 'hamartia' is used. Literally translated this means to 'miss the mark.' Sin is when we deliberately choose to miss the mark. Where we deliberately choose a bad action instead of a good or neutral action. Another way of looking at it is that sin is when we choose to be unloving in the way we act. Now there are various levels of harm caused by sin. A major,or grave, one would be to murder someone. Obviously the harm in that is collosal. A minor sin in comparison is when we tell a white lie. But even that has a knock on effect.
St Paul says that sin unchecked leads to death. I believe that he means spiritual death but he might equally be warning of physical death. We can quite see that the cumulative results of a series of negative actions could lead us into the sort of angry conflict where death ensues. Sometimes inevitably one evil thing leads to another.
Some sins break national laws as well as spiritual laws. It is worth us thinking about the following passage from St Paul "The commandments... are summed up in the one command, "Love your neighbour as you love yourself." If you love someone you will never do them wrong; to love then is to obey the whole law." Romans 13:10 - Surely this means that love should be the yardstick by which we need to measure our actions?
The thing about the Christian faith is that it is about redemption. It doesn't lead us to an awareness of sin and then leave us 'high and dry' to wallow in our misery. God through Jesus offers us a new beginning. A way out of sin, a new way of forgiveness that comes from God.
God wants us to be happy and fulfilled people who have put darkness behind us. He can bring us to a stage where we are aware of our sins. When that happens we need to then turn to him and ask what we need to do put things right. It could be, for example, that we need to forgive someone or ask them to forgive us. That forgiveness then opens us to receiving God's forgiveness. The fact that we are trying to make amends allows a spiritual dynamic to happen.
Now the great thing is that we can access this grace gift at any time. We don't have to wait until the one day in two weeks when the bin men come. God comes out to meet us on the road and is prepared at any time to "tread down our faults to the bottom of the sea."
Dear Lord, help me to identify what in my life needs changing. Show me how that change can happen. Give me courage and insight to take the steps that I need to. Help me to bless and not to curse. To build and not to destroy. May your Spirit come to strengthen me, Amen
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