Psalm 51:1-5

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.” vs. 1

Most people perk up when they hear the good news of God’s steadfast love and abundant mercy. They like knowing that our God is good and that forgiveness abounds. But many have trouble with the obvious corollary to God’s mercy, i.e. our deep and abiding sinfulness. Through the years people have railed against church teachings that point out human sin, saying that such an emphasis is damaging to our egos and ruinous to our self-esteem. Some don’t like to talk about sin at all…in fact some congregations have pretty much eliminated an order of confession from their worship. At best people will admit to have made a few mistakes in life, but that’s pretty much it. They’d rather just praise God and skip the sin talk. Yet it’s hard to understand how a message of grace can mean anything if we don’t acknowledge the sin that makes it necessary. The truth is that every single one of us is a sinner! There are no exceptions. That doesn’t mean we have to go around in sackcloth and ashes with dismal expressions on our faces. Because we are forgiven sinners our faces can shine like the sun and our smiles can dazzle rooms with their radiance. We can lift the hearts of the broken and fill the world with love…because the Lord our God is merciful!

Thought for the Day: When am I most aware of my sin?