December 07, 2010
My Apologies
The woman at the well was evasive when she told Jesus she didn’t have a husband - which was true. However her past showed that she had had five husbands and a current line-in. Certainly Scripture cautions us about divorce and tells us that living together out of wedlock is immoral, whether in the culture of that day or today. I must admit that I’ve always heaped extra judgment on the woman for making such poor choices in men. Recently while visiting with a woman who has had multiple marriages I learned that two marriages ended because of both husband’s infidelity and one marriage ended because her spouse died. It jumped out at me that I might owe the woman at the well an apology. (John 4:1-26 NIV)
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Gail;
-----It is hard to tell where another person stands regarding salvation. We talk about being holy, yet none of us are completely. Everyone has problems with the flesh. That is why our salvation depends upon His righteousness and grace. Yet we are not to continue in sin so that grace may abound. Then we all wind up with different perceptions about where the line falls between acceptance and rejection. And I honestly think we aren’t even sure where that line is for ourselves.
-----“For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt 5:20) These guys tried hard not to break the law. They were sure they weren’t breaking it. That is precisely how our righteousness must exceed theirs. We must be sure that we still do offend God in many ways, even though we may try our best to not offend Him. So every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven us except blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. I believe it is our confession of sin that avoids that blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Sin is a statement about being out of place with God. If we refuse to admit we sin, or refuse to admit even a particular sin, we state that our behavior is not out of place with Him. Yet His Word insists that until we are perfected when we physically part from this temporal life, we still sin. To deny it makes Him a liar. Making Him a liar is blasphemy, and it is the Word inspired by the Spirit against which we blasphemy when we refuse to admit our sin.
-----So I think maybe where the line separating significant sin, like this woman having such a history with men, and insignificant sin, like snoozing in church, is not at all the issue. I think the issue is remaining adamant that God is right in the face of our own misbehaviors. For if salvation were about not misbehaving anymore, we would all be up the creek.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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