In Greek, the word used for sin means missing the mark. I have mixed feelings about that. On the one hand, it makes it easier to engage in holy conversations when we begin by saying that God has desires for our conduct and character and when we shoot at and then miss the mark, we sin. That flows nicely in conversation. Talking about sin that way has no hint of a judgmental attitude. Christians take it on the chin enough with accusations of insensitivity and being judgmental. So, talking about sin as missing the mark is a highly accessible starting point for conversation.
On the other hand, I am keenly aware of the intense cost of sin. Missing the mark is not just an "oops, I guess I messed up...sorry!" As if we forgot to start the dishwasher. Missing the mark displeases God. The effect of missing the mark is substantial. God came to this earth in the flesh to deal with the problem of missing the mark. God went to great lengths to make sure that when we missed the mark, we would not be eternally affected by the consequences. Jesus suffered and died and was resurrected because of sin. So, missing the mark is serious. Jesus came to deal with these very issues.
Talk about sin. Talk about it as missing the ideal for our lives. But don't lose sight of the substantial weight sin and the great price Jesus paid to set us free from the guilt of sin.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Hunger For God
I have this thing with tears. It used to be that when someone cried, I grieved or felt anguish for them because they were crying. And deep down inside I usually wanted them to stop crying especially if they were men. Not any more. I have begun to realize that humans cry for all reasons ranging from grief to fear to surprise to joy. I've also learned to try to get a person to express the reason for tears.
The king of Israel wept, but the specific reason is not told. Whether it was fear, sadness, anger, or some other reasons we are not told. We do know that his son Absalom was coming toward Jerusalem with an army to overthrow the king. We do know that the loyal servants and the king himself were leaving town. We do know that the ark of the covenant, the iconic symbol of the very presence of God, was not going with them. God was staying in Jerusalem! We do know that they were all weeping as they left.
They left to go to the desert. It was in that dry and worn-down land that the king in his sorrow wrote the words of Psalm 63. Listen to how he begins:
You, God, are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
where there is no water.
Psalm 63:1
He goes on in the psalm to express his trust of God and hope in God. But in the moment he was longing for something he once had: intimate time with God.
We humans are restless in our lives. Maybe even more so for we American humans. We are bombarded with things clamoring for our attention, allegiance and action. We work, play, get involved with society, take care of family, go to movies, read books and try to satisfy that hunger inside of us. Eventually, we come to realize that that restlessness will never be satisfied with the things we try. Eventually, we come to realize what a Billy Graham crusade leader once told a group of us: we all have God-shaped hole in our heart. We can try to put things in that spot, but they never quite fit right, they never quite satisfy. Only God can because only God fits.
In the early church, a man named Augustine once said, "Our hearts our restless until we find our rest in God alone." We hunger for God.
Fill that empty spot, that inner longing, with what we most want. Let God satisfy your hunger and thirst.
The king of Israel wept, but the specific reason is not told. Whether it was fear, sadness, anger, or some other reasons we are not told. We do know that his son Absalom was coming toward Jerusalem with an army to overthrow the king. We do know that the loyal servants and the king himself were leaving town. We do know that the ark of the covenant, the iconic symbol of the very presence of God, was not going with them. God was staying in Jerusalem! We do know that they were all weeping as they left.
They left to go to the desert. It was in that dry and worn-down land that the king in his sorrow wrote the words of Psalm 63. Listen to how he begins:
You, God, are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
where there is no water.
Psalm 63:1
He goes on in the psalm to express his trust of God and hope in God. But in the moment he was longing for something he once had: intimate time with God.
We humans are restless in our lives. Maybe even more so for we American humans. We are bombarded with things clamoring for our attention, allegiance and action. We work, play, get involved with society, take care of family, go to movies, read books and try to satisfy that hunger inside of us. Eventually, we come to realize that that restlessness will never be satisfied with the things we try. Eventually, we come to realize what a Billy Graham crusade leader once told a group of us: we all have God-shaped hole in our heart. We can try to put things in that spot, but they never quite fit right, they never quite satisfy. Only God can because only God fits.
In the early church, a man named Augustine once said, "Our hearts our restless until we find our rest in God alone." We hunger for God.
Fill that empty spot, that inner longing, with what we most want. Let God satisfy your hunger and thirst.
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