those pesky sins

Today's readings: (these are for Aug 1, since I accidentally did Aug 2 yesterday) 2 Chron 30:1-31:21, Rom 15:1-22, Psalm 25:1-15, Prov 20:13-15

So Paul is amusingly jerk like in today's reading, but I'm gonna give him a pass because I've picked on him enough.

I'll talk about the Psalm, partially to give Paul a break and partially because it's pretty profound.

See, we have conflicting views and feelings about sin. And the Psalm reflects this. On one hand, the Psalmist is saying "God, take care of me because I follow you and I don't sin!" but in the very same Psalm, he says "Forgive my many, many sins."

Which is it? Do we have many, many sins, or are we living sin free? Well, it's both. We DO sin, every day. If we pretend we don't sin, we are lying. 1 John 1:8 says if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But 1 Peter 4:1 says if we suffer in our body, we are through with sin. And many places in Romans Paul talks about being in Christ and therefore free from sin.

So we sin, but we're no longer enslaved to it. We make mistakes, and we will continue to make them throughout our lives. We repent, we are forgiven, we move on and grow.

And... since we're all going through this process... maybe we should be patient with one another?

God, thank you for forgiving my many, many sins. Please help me be patient with my neighbor's many, many sins.