Yesterday in Sunday School we talked about sin and the guilt we often feel as Christians when our sins separate us from God. This stood out for me:
We are all infected and impure with sin.
When we display our righteous deeds,
they are nothing but filthy rags.
Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall,
and our sins sweep us away like the wind.
We are born sinful and we spend so much time trying to justify our sin or cover it up. Like David, trying to cover up his indiscretion with Bathsheba, covers up his sin by killing Uriah. With all of David's "righteous deeds" the sin of lust makes them just "filthy rags". The teacher today compared it to seeing a bride walk down the aisle with a big dirty stain on her dress. This would be what everyone would focus on. When we have sin, we have our own stain on display.
There will be punishment for sin:
15 See, the Lord is coming with fire,
and his swift chariots roar like a whirlwind.
He will bring punishment with the fury of his anger
and the flaming fire of his hot rebuke.
16 The Lord will punish the world by fire
and by his sword.
He will judge the earth,
and many will be killed by him.
One day all our stains will be revealed and will need to be accounted for. Only when Jesus covers the stain and it is seen no more will be escape the wrath of God.
This repeated in the NT passage:
4 Of course, your former friends are surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do. So they slander you. 5 But remember that they will have to face God, who stands ready to judge everyone, both the living and the dead. 6 That is why the Good News was preached to those who are now dead[b]—so although they were destined to die like all people,[c] they now live forever with God in the Spirit.[d]
Our society prefers to gloss over sin. Everything is grey instead of black and white. Truth has become relative. However, there will come a time when we need to account for our words and our actions. We will be judged. It is not easy to live for Christ. But scripture promises that we don't journey this path alone and that it will worth it:
So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you.
Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage: Habakkuk 1-3, 1 Peter 5
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