kneeling

I have hurt my knee. I slipped down a step and it feels like I strained the ligaments behind the knee. I am not telling you this for sympathy, but because it is the sort of injury that I can forget for a while until I move my leg in a direction that makes me wince. It feels like it is improving and then…

There are some sins that are like that for us. They are the things we struggle with most. We can go a long time without falling and then suddenly we move in a direction that makes God wince. An angry word. A lustful look. An unkind thought. A little lie. And the realisation of this makes us feel bad – we have let God down… again.

But if we are truly forgiven, as far as God is concerned (if we keep short accounts) it is not ‘again’. He has wiped the slate clean.

And I think he is more bothered about the things that don’t bother us.

This is not an excuse, nor is it to cheapen grace. It is the reality for most of us. There are a few people who sail serenely through life like swans and make the rest of us think ‘wow’. But their spiritual feet are paddling away furiously under the surface. I’d love to interview a number of those people I know and find out what they have in common.

I don’t think I would be surprised at the results. I think that it would be a love for God, a deep and honest prayer life, a regular immersion in the Bible and a godly Spirit-led determination.

The good news is, that with God’s help, that’s achievable for all of us! And the gaps between what we perceive as ‘again’ get longer (please God).

An elderly lady was well-known for her faith and for her boldness in talking about it. She would stand on her front doorstep and shout “PRAISE THE LORD!”

Next door to her lived an atheist who would get so angry at her proclamations he would shout, “There’s no God!!”

Hard times set in on the elderly lady, and she prayed for God to send her some assistance. She stood on her doorstep and shouted “PRAISE THE LORD. GOD I NEED FOOD!! I AM HAVING A HARD TIME. PLEASE LORD, SEND ME SOME GROCERIES!!”

The next morning the lady went outside and noted a large bag of groceries and shouted, “PRAISE THE LORD.”

The neighbour jumped from behind a bush and said, “Aha! I told you there was no God. I bought those groceries, God didn’t.”

The lady started jumping up and down and clapping her hands and said, “PRAISE THE LORD. He not only sent me groceries, but He made the devil pay for them. Praise the Lord!”