Day 20 – sinful
The greatest of faults is to be conscious of none. –JO PETTY
If
you consider yourself sinless, it would be best if you skip today’s reading
before you commit the sin of wasting your time.
I
want everyone else to consider two statements of Paul to the church in Rome:
1. All have sinned. There is no one righteous.
2. Our sins have separated us from God.
What
is the basis of this belief? Why is sin our number one problem? Why is it so
disruptive? Why would it cause such
a breach in divine-human rapport? Why, God, have our sins separated us from
You?
Our
mission today is to answer these questions, and a brief look at ER wound
protocol will perhaps help. When I suture a laceration, I follow a set pattern.
First, I don sterile gloves that are free of bacteria and potential pathogens.
Next, I anesthetize the wound with a local injection of sterile 1% lidocaine;
then I clean the wound and surrounding skin with a sterile solution of sodium
chloride and a sterile antibacterial soap. Then, with a sterile hemostat, I
grasp a sterile needle attached to a sterile nylon thread and suture together
the edges of the wound, occasionally removing blood with sterile gauze.
At
all times during this repair, I must protect and maintain the sterile field
around the wound. If I have to leave during suturing to handle another emergency,
I put on new sterile gloves when I return. If I drop a hemostat or needle on
the floor, I ignore it and ask for a sterile replacement. The mere presence of
bacteria on that needle or instrument automatically makes it of no use to me.
Its unsterile nature separates it from the procedure at hand.
What
an appropriate parallel to the state of our relationship with God! He is
holy—infinitely pure and righteous, without hint or speck of contamination. We
(yes, all of us) are His contaminated instruments—sinful, dirty, and
unrighteous. Just as filth on a hemostat separates it from a sterile tray, our
sinfulness and ungodliness separate us from a holy and sinless God.
1
Place
your name in the blank and read this verse aloud: “________ has sinned and fallen short of the
glory of God.”
2
Place
your name in the blanks and read this verse aloud: “God showed His love for
_________ in this way—though _________
was a sinner, Christ died for __________.”
3
Place
your name in the blank and read this verse aloud: “Thanks be to God, who gives
__________ the victory through Jesus Christ.”
Daily Quotation
Jo
Petty, An Apple a Day (Norwalk, Conn.: C.R. Gibson, 1979), May 28.
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