Good Morning All,
Psalm 51:10; “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”
It is the little things in life; how often do
we say this or think this? Oh, the
little things that mean so much. I think
for most of us this is very true. A hot
cup of coffee on a cold day can go a long way to a content heart. The gentle voice of your spouse as you sit
and listen to some music. Listening to
your children or grandchildren as they are sleeping. Watching them read a book or playing a
game. The quiet times with friends can
make life enjoyable and truly fun. The
little things in life are wonderful.
Yet sometimes, it is the
little things in life that cause us the most pain and problems. The problem is that we all have those little
sins in our life. They are just little
ones, nothing major. Just small, nagging
little sins. Most of us have not really
committed what we would consider “big sins.”
We have never murdered someone; we have never actually committed
adultery. We have never stolen anything
of any real value, but we have those nagging little sins.
Sometimes, we don’t even
think of them as sins. We call them
“peccadilloes;” or “character flaws; or “idiosyncrasies” but we never call them
sins. We have never committed murder but
there are some people who we would like to move away, or some such problems
beset them. We make cruel and snide remarks,
but it is “just what I was told.” We
love the “good and juicy” gossip. We
still claim that we have no other gods before God but sometimes God just
doesn’t fit into our busy schedule. We
have never committed adultery but a little looking and fantasizing is “natural”
isn’t it? And so, we let off a little
steam when we are with our friends and complain about our spouse to them, we
all need a release don’t we?
Those little sins are so
hard to let go of, aren’t they? We like
to hold them because we think they give us power and we think they don’t really
matter in the greater scheme of things.
We may rationalize all of our actions, all of our little ways but the
bottom line is that they are still sins.
They are sins and sins are what separate us from God. Sin is what breaks our relationship with
God. Sin is what pollutes us and makes
us unworthy of being in God’s presence.
That is why David wrote this
verse so many years ago. As he looked at
his life, he saw where he was at. God
had revealed to him the pain he was causing, to himself, to others and to how
his relationship with God was broken.
David had lied, committed adultery and murder. The pain and the agony of it came home to
roost for him and he suffered for it.
Just like we suffer when we hold onto sin, whether it is sin that we are
afraid to admit to or sin that we think is minor and harmless; sin destroys our
relationship with God.
Only God can restore and
renew us. He does this through the
saving atonement of Jesus. He does this
through his love. He uses the baptismal
grace that he gives us for the daily washing of our sins away. A clean heart, every day. A right spirit, every day. God’s gift to us because of Jesus’ atoning
sacrifice.
Father, in you we have
forgiveness because of Jesus. Make us
clean and right. Give us your Spirit to
guard us and protect us. In Jesus’ precious
name we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
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