Devotionals

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Suggested Readings: Romans 7:21-25; Matthew14:22-33

Psalms 103:10-13
    He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
         Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
    For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
         So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.
    As far as the east is from the west,
         So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
    Just as a father has compassion on his children,
         So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.

I happened upon a conversation of spiritual matters last week…don't you just love how God arranges these little moments of insight. How He loves to catch unawares in an unguarded moment to teach us greater understandings of Himself. The lesson is simple and obvious and yet mind-altering at the same time in showing us how we are to think of sin.

A simple definition of repentance often heard from pulpits is "to turn around, make a 180o turn." In other words, to turn our backs completely to sin and head resolutely in the opposite direction with our eyes fixed on Jesus and making the godly choices in life that He requires of us. In Psalm 103, David tells us that God removes our sin from us, "as far as the east is from the west." The question was then posed, "How far IS the east from the west?" (insert pregnant pause here)
The speaker then continued, "It's right behind you. Just a simple matter of turning around and there it is." (Let pause a moment again here to let that concept and its' implications sink in) Romans 7:21 records a familiar sensation, "When I want to do good, evil is right there with me." So the obvious, yet subtly devious answer is, my sin is right behind me, following me around wherever I go, urging me to turn and look at it, follow it. Resisting its urgings is a matter of determined will then, to keep my eyes firmly fixed on Jesus and keep heading in His direction, not giving in to the enticements and whispers of my sinful nature.

In Matthew 14, Peter only found himself in danger of sinking when he looked away from Jesus, let his focus be distracted by his circumstances. With the wisdom of our great hindsight, we can be tempted to shake our heads at Peter's lack of faith, yet we have the exact same tendencies to act like our circumstances and problems are bigger than our God. That kind of thinking leads us to avert our eyes from the road, which is just as dangerous, if not more so, in a spiritual sense as it is to let our eyes wander when we are driving our cars. Both have disastrous and messy endings--crash and burn, broken bodies and spirits, discomfort, inconvenience and hassle, embarrassment and usually some financial outlay as well in the repair process. The good news is that even if we have turned in the wrong direction, the east is still right behind the west and Jesus is still there waiting for you to turn back. The right direction, the one that leads to God is still just a matter of turning around and heading towards Him again, committing anew to live a life that is good and pleasing in His sight.

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