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Courtesy of "Naked Pastor"

Forgiveness

John 11:35 "Jesus wept."

This is the shortest verse in the Bible and it tells us much more than you might think at first. It shows that when Jesus became a man and came to redeem us from our sins, He poured out His power and became a shell of what he really was. Jesus felt the same emotions, faced the same temptations and had the same kind of problems that we do. He knows how difficult it is sometimes to maintain self-control.

Jesus came to earth as the ultimate sacrifice so that our sins could be forgiven. Even if we get angry and lose control, Jesus forgives and forgets. If you think about it, you realize that this is the kindest thing anyone can do for another. Always remember to forgive just as Jesus has forgiven you and recognize when you should apologize and ask others to forgive you.

The Kings

In our Wednesday Bible Study we have been reading 1st and 2nd Kings...wow...Not an easy subject to teach much less wrap teenage brains around. So many kings, so many failures, so much death. And to try to help them continue to see God's hand in it all. Now I know there are some spectacular miracles in these books but in between it sounds like chaos! Inevitably the questions arise..."All they had to do was follow God's law and He would bless them, why do they keep turning away?" It's difficult to make them understand that it's for the same reason we do. Temptation...they don't realize that we behave the same way. In their minds it would be easy to set aside this "idol"...just throw it away! Once they come to see that there are idols in their lives, not the "stone carved" kind but each and every thing that comes between them and God you can see the light bulbs go on...and they begin to see what the Israelites were facing.

We are blessed to have this instruction especially when society seems so far out of balance. We can look back to the death, destruction and captivity, all of man's own making, and know that when we turn our hearts away from our idols,we will see God's deliverance once again.

Sin

When you think of sin, do you see them all the same? Are some of them little sins and some big? After all, gossip is not nearly as bad as murder, is it? A little white lie to Mom and Dad doesn't really count, does it? You see, not only do we have a scale for sin, we have one for lying too! After all, a little lie is okay in order to keep from hurting someones feelings is actually good, isn't it? In God's eyes, sin is sin! A lie is a lie! Ruining someones reputation with gossip is as bad as killing the body and withholding the truth when it could be spoken in love opens the door for more hurt when someone else tells it.

Satan counts on us to rationalize sin this way, otherwise he wouldn't have such an easy time getting us to commit them. Little sins are the most dangerous because they don't stay little, they grow and grow. Soon we may find our lives and our relationships built on lies and sin. Spend time with God and ask Him to point out your "little" sin and then read His word...Psalm 26:2-3, Psalm 139:23-24 and 1 John 1:9.