Growing
up in a time of dial phones, black and white television, and wind up watches,
recess couldn’t come fast enough. We looked
forward to weekend playtime and had
friends over for games. The playgrounds
at school had swings and monkey bars as well as fields to play kickball. We had swings, a big field of red-top clover,
a larger yard, and lots of trees. With five of us, school chums came to play at our
house. What’s another dozen kids
Daddy would say and for Momma, it had to be easier having us all there rather
than scattered out to multiple places.
We lived in a rural area and our house as the gathering place saved our
parents a lot of windshield time although it probably gave them a few extra
prematurely gray hairs.
If
there were ten or more of us playing hide-and-seek, we would count up to fifty.
If just my siblings and I, it went something like “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 –
all good children go to heaven. 8, 9,
and 10 – I’m not counting again. Ready
or not here I come!” Such fun we had in finding the perfect hiding place in
a short amount of time. Fun fizzled when the place so easily accessed was not so easy
to get out of. Calling out for
help? Not an option for the game
continued. Staying put? Breathe through it. We rallied to rescue our sibling without
involving our parents. If they knew we
were hiding where we weren’t supposed to be playing, there would be whippings.
We
have all experienced consequences to our actions, both good and not so
good. We have stretched, and sometimes
broken, boundaries in the name of spreading our wings. We have gotten ‘stuck’ between dumb and certainly
not smart trying to do things on our strength and knowledge rather than asking
for help. Sometimes, we rally a cheering
section to encourage us to stay stuck because we are comfortable there. We keep our failures to ourselves because we
don’t want to be embarrassed.
Worst
of all is getting caught doing something we shouldn’t be doing. We know better. We’ve been
taught right and wrong. We’ve
been told to stay away, keep back, and move on from certain things, people, and
places. We hear but do we listen? And when we get caught, do we hang our head in shame or shout
back in defiance? Do we admit our wrong
and ask forgiveness? Do we turn from our
wrong and face the consequences of our actions?
Or, do we smile with understanding and do it again?
The
Bible encourages us to pray and ask forgiveness for our sins; to repent of
them. To repent is a change of mind or
purpose, a direction reversal from our current
state. To repent brings us to a penitent
state or to be sorrowful, contrite, for sin or wrongdoing wanting to amend and
atone for our actions. It is not
punishment but correction we receive when we ask forgiveness and truly repent.
Not
one of us makes it through the day without sinning in some way. A constant battle against the flesh rages
within a contrite heart. We cannot hide
from our wrong doing because it lives within us. We cannot deny it for, frankly God already
knows. We pray and receive forgiveness
because Jesus has set us free. He took
all our sins for all of us to the cross.
Nothing you do or say could make Him regret taking the punishment for
you. Nothing you can imagine or partake
in can prevent Him from loving you.
Nothing on this earth can stop Him from wanting you with Him in
eternity. No man or law passed by man
can overtake His word as truth.
Are
you prepared for Jesus to return to take
us home? Have you admitted to Him you are a sinner in need of a
Savior? Do you believe in His redemptive
work on the cross? Have you asked Him to
come into your life and change you?
On
that day when in the twinkling of an eye He arrives, I want to be doing His
work. Will you join me to be ready when
He comes?
