Psalm 85

from this morning’s bible reading:

“i am listening carefully to all the lord is saying…for he speaks peace to his people, his saints, if they will only stop their sinning.  surely his salvation is near to those who reverence him: our land will be filled with his glory.”  psalm 85:8-9 (tlb)

experiencing the peace of god is directly related to our sin.  it’s a fact we can ignore, but we can’t avoid.  we want to live in the grace of god, but we don’t want to give up our freedom to sin.  this is a problem.

we applaud ourselves for not having the “big sins” in our lives.  i don’t murder.  i don’t steal.  i’m not like those lying politicians.  i don’t make and sell meth.  i’m not in a gang.  i’m not going to jail…yet, we silently allow the “quieter sins” to lurk in our lives.

sins like greed and subtle prejudice and sexual lust (the private kind) and pride and judgment and laziness and overeating and not listening and not caring and not sharing and all of those other similar little indiscretions that take up residence with us.

those sins are like cancer.  not easily recognized or defined in their infancy, but fester and grow deep inside of us nonetheless.  we just sit back and ignore the damage they are doing…oblivious to the slow, methodical erosion of our souls.  we are blind to the destruction of the sacred.  we learn to justify their presence and even comfortable with their unholy friendship…until they explode into the full-blown destruction of our relationships to others and to god.

be careful.  be very, very careful.  sin is a manipulative enemy.  may god speak peace to us today.

#peace #sin