“A Record of Sins”

April 21, 2024

April 21, 2024

Read Deuteronomy 5, Psalm 130-131, Acts 14

What kinds of things do you keep a record of? Do you track your exercise, your diet, your time spent on some particular activity? I recently started helping my father to catalog and inventory his model train collection that he has built up over the last few decades. Keeping a record is a good thing most of the time. There are some times when we would prefer not to keep a record. 1 Corinthians 13:5 says the Love “does not keep a record of wrongs.” We do not want people to remember our past mistakes and we shouldn’t keep a record of their mistakes either. Here in Psalm 130 we find this encouragement, “If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? 4 But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared” vv. 3-4. We can be glad most of all that God does not keep a record of our sins. When he forgives us, he loses the record or deletes it from his tally. We should take note do practice the same thing when it comes to our forgiveness of others.

What else do you see in these chapters? What words, phrases, or themes stand out to you?
Add your thoughts below.

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Posted by John Weldon

“A Pure Heart”

February 20, 2024

February 20, 2024

Read Leviticus 7, Psalm 51, Hebrews 7

Psalm 51 is a psalm of David. The subtitle tells you that he wrote it after the prophet Nathan confronted him about committing adultery with Bathsheba and having her husband Uriah killed. David had thought he had gotten away with his sin. He thought he had covered it up. He had it all planned out, but God wasn’t fooled. The way that Nathan did it you can read about in 2 Samuel 12. It was a bit shocking, but I got David’s attention.

David cries out to God, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin” vv. 1-2. There is also great theology in this psalm. David declares “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge” v. 4. Even thought David did wrong against Bathsheba and her husband, ultimately David sinned against God because it was God’s law that David had broken. Next, we read about sin as imputed from birth. We are born with a sinful nature. A bent to do wrong. “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” v. 5. You do not have to teach a young child to be selfish or to react in their emotions. It comes naturally.

This seems like bad news, but we are not done yet. David knew who to go to for forgiveness and to cleanse him. “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice” vv.7-8. When we find forgiveness from God it restores our joy and removes the guilt and shame that we feel because of our sin. Many people try to hide it today. They want to minimize their sin for various reasons. Remember David was the one that is often called “the man after God’s own heart.” It is only because God is the one who can do what David asked next. “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” v. 10. Nothing is unforgivable with God (1 John 1:9). If we are alive, we can seek forgiveness from Him. No matter what we have done, even the worst of the worst can find forgiveness in Jesus. Don’t believe me? Just remember David who committed the sins he did.

What else do you see in these chapters? What words, phrases, or themes do you see?
Add your thoughts below.

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Posted by John Weldon