Planks and THOSE people

 


At church this past weekend the pastor talked about sin.  I'm sure he'll get letters because he went into some topics that are taboo in our society these days, things like:

  • Integrity (do not cheat, steal or lie) - he pointed out that even those pens that came from the office, or the venmo money we fail to report on taxes, or the little lies we tell people to excuse our behavior - are all sins.
  • Sexual Purity (yep, he went here...and he talked about sex before marriage, lust for those who are not our married partner and homosexuality) - he noted that the "God made me that way so it must be okay..." is the same thing we can say to forgive ANY of our sins, e.g. "God made me wish for nicer things so I steal", or "God made me really sexual, so I had sex with lots of people before I got married, and now that I'm married I just look at porn but I'm not harming anyone"...  He called the excuse a "red herring" and pointed out that God made each of us - and each of us have sinful natures that derail us.
  • Relationships - he talked about practicing compassion, even with the unborn, and forgiveness, even when it is hard.
  • Spirituality - here he mentioned baptism, and faithfulness to church, and submitting to God's and His truths rather than practicing those of the world or "our truths".
But the thing I found MOST INTERESTING about his talk was when he said "we tend to focus our critical attention on the areas of sin that are NOT DIFFICULT for us..."

He's right! 

There are things on this list that are not my sins - and so, because I'm often the hero in my own story, I tend to think THOSE PEOPLE who struggle with those sins, are somehow worse off or MORE sinful than me...

THEY'RE NOT.

The fact is "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23) and before we go about condemning someone for their sins, we need to take a good hard look in the mirror and remember what Jesus said in Matthew 7:3-5:

"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?  How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." 

It is easy to condemn the actions of others while excusing our own sinful nature.  But God's message is one of grace and forgiveness.  And THAT is the message for today.








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