Morning Moments

Psalm 19:12 Who can know all his errors? Please do not punish me for sins I am unaware of. 19:13 Moreover, keep me from committing flagrant sins; do not allow such sins to control me. Then I will be blameless, and innocent of blatant rebellion. 19:14 May my words and my thoughts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my sheltering rock and my redeemer.

You and I have missed the mark more than we could ever imagine. Do you in your wildest dreams think you are aware of everything you have thought, said, or done that displeased God? Give me a break! THAT is why none of us can have a "holier than thou" attitude. There is no place in the body of Christ or the Kingdom of God for Sister Bertha Better Than You. The psalmist recognized that and so should be. Your "unaware of" sins are as many as mine and mine are as many as yours. "Blessed is the man who sins are forgiven." "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from ALL sin." We must agree with God about that.

Pride and arrogance lead to fragrant sins; sins that are described by the attitude of "Well, I know I'm weak but God will forgive me anyway." "If we willfully sin after having come to the knowledge of the truth, there remains no sacrifice for sins." We cannot and must not trample under foot "the blood of the covenant, by which we have been sanctified." We must understand that some will be saved as by fire. Some of us will stand before the "Bema" judgment ashamed and suffer loss of reward. Some of us have been "put on a shelf" because we presumed upon the goodness of God and fragrantly sinned. Some of us have already been judged and remain under the judgment of God.

Think of it this way: There are many decent, loyal, and patriotic Americans who obey the laws and respect authority even when we might disagree. But there are those who are just as American; born and bred, reared and raise here who are not loyal, decent, and patriotic. They do not obey the laws and do not respect authority, BUT they are Americans by birth. These are they who have made this country look bad to others around the world.

In the same way, there are those who are genuinely born again (Baker, Hegstrom, Swaggart and a thousand others, maybe including you and me) who have made us all look bad. We must understand that even the dumbest of us and the most rebellious of us can come to repentance, but the consequence of our stupidity has damaged us and affected those around us. The Scripture teaches than "some men's sins go before them and some follow after them", even though there is forgiveness in Jesus Christ.

This is not Arminian theology and certainly not Calvinistic theology, it is, whether you like it or not, Biblical theology. OH GOD, KEEP US FROM PRESUMPTIOUS SINS! If you do this, the psalmist says, THEN I will be blameless and innocent. BUT, says the psalmist, "You are the One who protects me and who has purchased me, and because of that, my desire is that what I say and think may be acceptable to and approved by You, O Lord."

BLESSINGS!