Well, I have never done that.
I am not that bad.
You would not believe what (Pointing with eyes) did.
Ever say that? Ever hear that? Ever think that?
We are so often quick to dismiss our own sins while quickly pointing to the sins of others.
Luke 7 tells a story of Jesus going to Simon’s house. Simon was a Pharisee, a leader in the Jewish temple. A woman, who heard Jesus was there, came with a jar of perfume. As they were reclined at the table the woman began weeping at the feet of Jesus. As the tears covered His feet she began to wipe them with her hair as she poured the perfume on His feet.
Simon became upset at her pouring “expensive perfume” on Jesus' feet. He thought to himself, how can Jesus let this sinful woman do this? If only He knew what she had done.
Jesus knew what he was thinking and gave him a quick lesson in debts forgiven.
Before we are too hard on this Pharisee, let’s do a quick examination of our lives to see how many times we have done this same exact thing. We were not in this scenario, but it has had the same results.
We are left thinking, I would never…
We like to quickly file sins in a neat system of have done, will never do, and OH MY GOODNESS!
After our filing is done, we rank ourselves somewhere typically near better than… that guy!
A quick look at Romans 1 and our thoughts of filing can quickly disappear. This part of Romans talks about God’s wrath against a sinful people. A people that knew Him but turned away from Him anyway.
Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. Romans 1:29-31 NLT
I hate to admit this but my list of never done that... quickly fades into the midst of proud, boastful, gossip, quarreling, envy, and I need to stop this list is getting too long. Suddenly, my sins don’t look as pretty as I made them out to be.
The truth is All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God's paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all. Isaiah 53:6 NLT
Jesus then turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” Luke 7:44-47 NIV
This story has many lessons we can learn but the one I want to point out is just like Simon the Pharisee, we often keep a record of our wrongs and mostly rights. We like to live on our mostly rights while wondering if someone’s else’s mostly wrongs will get noticed.
We like to put our sins on a level of good vs bad and although sin has different severities of consequences, sin is breaking God’s law. Sin is inherently ours. All of us, have strayed away.
All sin breaks our fellowship with God. All sin needs to be forgiven. So, we can be the one realizing we need forgiveness at the feet of Jesus or we can be the one sitting at the table thinking we are not as bad as someone else.
Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you.” Christ was willing to forgive because she was willing to repent.
She went to the source. The One who forgives. Even though we like to go our own ways, Isaiah 53 tells us Christ laid on Himself the iniquities of us all. He has the authority to forgive our sins.
On the cross, Christ bore the sins of the world. Every big and little sin, He took it all.
The next move is up to us. Do we fall at His feet with tear-stained hair or do we stay reclined upright at the table? Both have an eternal impact. Forgiveness leads to life with Christ while the other leads to eternal separation from Him.
If you would like to talk more about how you can seek forgiveness from Christ and begin a relationship with Him, feel free to email me and we can begin that conversation.
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Labels: A Sinner's Tale, Isaiah 53:6, Luke 7, Luke 7:44-47, Romans 1:29-31, Sitting Among Friends Blog Party
