Sunday, March 2, 2014

True Confessions: part 2

Jesus said to his followers, “Things will surely happen that will make people sin. But it will be very bad for anyone who makes this happen. It will be very bad for anyone who makes one of these little children sin. It would be better for them to have a millstone tied around their neck and be drowned in the sea. So be careful!

“If your brother or sister in God’s family does something wrong, warn them. If they are sorry for what they did, forgive them. Even if they do something wrong to you seven times in one day, but they say they are sorry each time, you should forgive them.”
 Luke 17:1-4 Easy-to-Read Version

If you follow my blog, you may be saying to yourself, Chris, you used this passage last week. Surely of the thousands of great verses in the Bible, I wouldn’t have to use the same one two weeks in a row. Well, here’s the deal, I didn’t say everything I wanted to last week.

Last week I shared one of my childhood transgressions, shoplifting on my way to Confirmation class. It was one single solitary piece of candy, not even a whole candy bar, but one those candies you drop by the scoop into a paper bag. It doesn’t matter. I stole.

What things have you stolen? Do you use the copier at work to make personal copies? Do you use the fax machine to fax personal papers? Have you forgotten to punch out for lunch and told yourself that it only makes up for all the times you worked through lunch? Have you ever gotten home from the store and found an extra item in your bag that wasn’t rung up and paid for? Did you take it back to the store?

No, I am not perfect. I have done some of these things too. But they are still all forms of stealing. They are all breaking a commandment. Does God care if you steal something worth ten cents or if you embezzle millions of dollars? No, not really. To Him a sin is a sin. That’s why none of us can ever make it to heaven on our own. That’s why this Wednesday is Ash Wednesday and we enter the six weeks of Lent, six weeks to reflect on our sins and be thankful that Jesus came to take every last one of them away.

He died on that cross to pay back millions of dollars taken due to sin, millions of lives ruined due to sin. He died to pay back one piece of candy.   


Lord, God Heavenly Father, what more can I say? I am a miserable sinner and only Your saving grace can redeem me. Amen 

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