6-17-2015

Good Morning All!!

              Psalm 51: 1-2; “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.   Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!”

      “Missed it by that much!”  For those of you that are of the right age you probably remember hearing that. You might not be able to place it right away but you will you can guess a couple of times but you might only get close and if you are only close than you “missed it by that much.”  At least that is what Agent 86, Maxwell Smart, would have told you.  Close he was always close but it was always missed by that much.

     Are you one of those people?  Do you have good intentions but seem to just come up short?  Do you miss it by that much?  It is easy to do.  We have lots of good intentions but we let something get in the way.  Maybe we are tired, maybe we just don’t feel like it so we miss it by that much.

    We often speak of sin as all the breaking of God’s will but in the Bible, especially the Old Testament, there are three “failures”; transgressions, iniquities and sins.  A transgression is a willful act of rebellion.  It is an event that occurs when you think about inflicting pain.  It is when you pushed your little brother down when you were 5 because he broke your colors or when you punched your best friend when he asked your girlfriend for a date.  An iniquity is to twist or to go on a crooked path.  This occurs when I twist God’s Word in order to make it my word or my will rather than God’s Word or God’s will.  It is when I change God’s Word so I can live with it.  Sin means to miss the mark; think of shooting an arrow at a target and missing the target, by this much.

    Sin, within the Old Testament, means to fail to do the right thing and this is probably where most Christians fall short more often than any other.  Most of us do not start out to hurt someone.  Maybe if you are pushed hard enough, you might lash out but most of us do not.  Most of us fail to do the right thing.  We might know that one of our neighbors needs help mowing the lawn but, well, someone younger should help out.  We miss it by that much.  Perhaps someone has been out of a job for a while and could use a little help but we think that there are government programs for that and we miss it by that much.

   Cain asked God, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”  The answer is yes we are.  So when you pray, ask for God’s direction to avoid doing the wrong things but also ask for help to do the right thing as well.  Ask for God’s Spirit to move you forward to be his voice, his arms, his hands and feet to bring about healing and the kingdom of God to those who are hurting.  Don’t miss it by “that much.”

    Gracious Father, guide me so that I do not miss the opportunity to do what is good and right.  Break my heart with the pain of my neighbor.  Move me to reach out to those who have been knocked down.  Enliven my spirit that I may be your hands and arms in this hurting world.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret