Episode 34

TODAY’S READING:

1 Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your unfailing love;

according to your great compassion

blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash away all my iniquity

and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions,

and my sin is always before me.

Psalm 51:1-4

 

Happy Thursday! Who remembers White Out? Old school tube of white-out that looks a lot like nail polish? Well, at least, I did in middle school. I remember I once painted my nails with that toxic white paint. I feel like it took forever to get it out. Nothing would remove the paint. I never ever did that again. 

 

Today’s Devo we are talking about … dun dun dun… sin! I think people are turned off by the wonders of our beautiful, loving, forgiving, merciful God because they have a misunderstanding of the definition of sin. 

 

This word scared me for the longest time. Sinner – cuts you like a throat. It’s been molded over centuries, and now it’s shameful. What’s funny is that the bible is extremely clear. We all sin—every single one of us. 

 

Sin is falling short of the glory of God. News flash, we are not God. So we are all sinners. What’s happened is that when we are called sinners, shame overcomes us, and we retreat. But I want to shake it up today. 

 

This verse is coming from King David after he committed adultery. Yes, God handpicked this boy to become the king of Israel, and he has committed the worst lack of judgment (to say the least) in a moment of weakness! He slept with a woman and got her pregnant while her husband was at war to protect their country. Not only that, but he was so ashamed of what he did that he sent her husband to come home and spend the night with his wife so that the baby could be “his.” That man denied sleeping with his wife that day because he felt that if all of his friends in the army couldn’t be with their wives, then it wasn’t right for him to do so. So do you know what David did? He sent him to the first line of battle to die so that no one would question why Bathsheba and David would end up together with a baby; after all, she was now widowed. Talk about a cover-up. Ultimate white-out right there. 

 

Do you know what’s so powerful? Whiteout chips away, and if you scratch hard enough, you’ll see what once was there. Exposed. Maybe not fully, but like a scar, it has a mark. Do you know what kind of God we serve? The kind of God that uses Control-Alt-Delete. It’s gone—your mistakes, your sins, your lack of judgment, gone. David cried for forgiveness, not the shallow kind. No, the kind that comes from your heart. 

 

Remember, man sees the exterior, but God sees the heart. I read a quote the other day that said, “sometimes the reason why strangers are your biggest cheerleaders is that the people closest to you can never understand how you grew past your past.” 

 

People will never understand how a person like you became a person with a beautiful, healthy family, traveled the world, grew to have influence over others. Our past selves, they don’t have to answer to anyone. Don’t put white-out on it and continue with your life. The paint will chip; ask God for his Control-Alt-Delete button. Give it to Him. 

 

PRAYER

Lord, you have created us all to be unique with a unique calling over our lives. Some of us are starting families; others of us have their children growing and leaving the nest. Some are just starting to build their careers, while others are in the thick of it. Lord, we are all in different seasons, yet in every single season, we can make a mistake that falls short of your Glory. We come to you with open hearts and ask for forgiveness. We ask for your wonderful control-alt-delete. Let us not dwell on our shortcomings but learn to give them to ourselves and to continue to push forward. Sometimes we think we are doing the best we can, and as a result, it may hurt another. My prayer today is that you guide us, you lead us, Holy Spirit shows us. We do actually need a savior, and over and over again, we choose you. Amen!