The Potholes of Life
Acts 13:38 “Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins.”
Last Friday was the first day of spring. It even felt like spring and smelled like spring. After a hard cold winter when the wind has been howling and snow has been falling and the temperatures have been dropping, it is always refreshing to feel the warmth of the sun on a nice spring day. We are reminded that winter doesn’t last forever and that life is about to be renewed. It almost, almost I say, wants to make one sing and dance. But in the spring, sometimes it is necessary to face the potholes that we hit during the winter.
Bumps in the Road
On the first day of spring this year, I took my car into the dealer for some routine maintenance. Only it wasn’t routine. They told me that the tires weren’t wearing properly and that the car should aligned. Now I shouldn’t have had to be told that as I remember at least three “bumps” in the road that almost caused my teeth to fall out. One of them caused the glove compartment door to release and fall open. I knew that I should have done something about the damage that those bumps in the road likely caused. But the car seemed to be driving fairly well, and I kept putting off the inevitable. I kept trying to tell myself that there was nothing really wrong and that the car would be fine without a checkup by the doctor.
Sin is kind of like that in our lives. Sin is really just an offense against God and it may be an offense against other people. Sin can be intentional and it can be unintentional. Sin can be things that we should have done but didn’t do, and it can be things that we did do that we shouldn’t have. But anyway we describe sin, sin is a bump in the road of life. If sin is not faced, it will seem like we are in the winter season of life with the wind in our faces and the temperature below zero. It will seem like the steering is not right in our cars. Many little bumps can accumulate to where the car is not driving right and one big bump can really destroy our peace and happiness. People would like to ignore the bumps in life and say that they don’t matter. However, ignoring these problems (and we don’t need to be told that they are problems), can cause serious depression and anxiety. And worse of all, sin opens us up to Satanic attack where we want to blame God for our problems instead of trusting Him to solve them. Many of us blame God for the way He has made us and for what He has allowed in our lives. In reality sin proves that Satan is real, and we should be blaming him and not God.
Repairing the Damage
But there is a solution. It is called “forgiveness of sins.” There is just nothing like true forgiveness. It involves a meeting of minds. The offender must confess his sin. The one who is offended needs to be able to forgive that sin. When minds meet, there is reconciliation. Men forgive others because they know that they too have harmed others. It would be hypocritical to want to be forgiven if we can’t forgive others. Because of our own sin, we really don’t have the right to punish others (correct and discipline maybe, but not punish). But God can do what man cannot. He recognizes that sin deserves punishment. Christ bore the punishment our sins deserved and now offers to us the “forgiveness” of sins on a righteous basis. When we confess our sins, He can be faithful and just in forgiving them (1 John 1:9).
We all know the joy that comes when we are reconciled to friends and family members that we have offended. It is just like smelling the first flowers of spring. But it is much more exhilarating to know that we have been forgiven by God. That puts the car back on the right track. That corrects the damage the bumps in the road have caused and puts the wind at our back. Why, oh why, would anyone want to go through life shackled by the burden of unforgiven sin when in a simple moment alone with God, confession can be made and forgiveness and reconciliation can be obtained?
Those Pesky On-going Sins
If we are going to enjoy a spiritual spring time and if we are going to have the car of life run in a straight line, we need the forgiveness of sins that comes with the new birth. That’s the time in our lives when we first understood and trusted in the truth that Christ died for our sins. When we receive Christ as our Savior, one of our blessings is to receive the forgiveness of sins. Provision has been made for past sins, on-going present sins (we all have them), and future sins. But because of those pesky on-going present sins, we who are forgiven need to confess to those we sin against; and, most certainly, we need to confess to God when we hit bumps in the road as we go along life’s pathway. When we are reconciled to God and to one another, the sun will be warm, the wind will be light and from the south, and the car will drive down the road in the way it was designed.
Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week of March 22, 2015