I'll be 38 this August. It seems like only yesterday I was playing with toy cars and riding my bike wherever my imagination would take. Having children of my own and watching them playing and having fun with friends has made me realize how naive - in my case stupid would be a better choice of word - I was at that age.
Back then, I didn't see things as dangerous or serious or "stupid" as they really were. There were times when my friends and I would walk across the "frozen" beaver pond because we liked to listen to the ice crack beneath our feet. As I got a little older, I remember trips to the cliffs where we would jump off the precipice onto young trees to "parachute" to "safety" some 50 plus feet below. Looking back, I see the danger I was blind to at the time and I thank God for keeping me safe. It wasn't that I was fearless; it was simply that I was young and immature. So, the older and more mature I get, the more aware of the danger of things I become.
The same fact is true of our sin. As a young believer, the gap between personal sin and God's holiness can seem small. "I know I'm a sinner, but we all are right?" The distance doesn't seem that far; It seems almost scalable with a little effort. But, the older I get the reality of God's infinite holiness shines into the darkness of my depravity, and the distance that once seemed so small reveals it's true size. I am silenced and broken by the price that had to be paid to bridge that gap.
As I've been preaching through 1 Timothy, I am reminded of Paul's words in 1:15 - "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost." Paul too, saw the ever-widening gap between his sin and God's holiness.
Do you see it? Is it a small shallow valley that you can cross on your own? Or, is it a deep and deadly canyon that no man dare attempt to cross. May Christ enlarge your mind today of the seriousness of your sin and the infinite grace of a holy God displayed in the gift of Christ crucified.
"My sin, Oh the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the whole is nailed to the Cross and I bear it no more..." Soli Deo Gloria!
Love in the Truth.
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