Tuesday, August 2, 2011

I, a poor miserable sinner

I said, "I will confess the transgressions to the Lord"
and you forgave the guilt of my sin.
Psalm 32:5

As an organist, I have the opportunity to travel to a different church than my own once a month.  This church is of a different denomination than the Lutheran LCMS church I am used to attending.  It's a nice church, with kind, welcoming people.  But every time I've played there, I've noticed something missing.

Sin.

There has never been one mention of sin and its ugliness in the few times I've attended there.  And I can understand why.  Sin is never a nice thing to talk about.  Recognizing your own sin can be humbling, even humiliating at times.  No one likes to talk about sin these days.  That word--sin--is just to harsh for people who like to think that they really aren't so bad after all.  

The thing I'm always thinking about, though, is the fact that without the mention of sin--the law--the Gospel also seems to be missing.  King David wrote our verse for today's devotion.  When God sent the prophet to hold the mirror of the law before David, showing him how very awful his sins were, the king hung his head.  Otherwise, he would have just kept on sinning.  But when David felt the guilt of his sin, he then could appreciate the fullness of God's forgiveness.  In short, if we aren't shown our sin, we can't see the Savior!

No one is perfect.  We all know that.  Thanks be to God that we can recognize that together, in church, in confession.  How beautiful that God sent His Son, Jesus, to absolve us of those sins.  It's such a wonderful gift from Him.  

I'll happily admit to being a miserable sinner any day.  That way I get to see my Savior.

We pray: Dear Heavenly Father, As much as we don't like to admit it, we are all sinners.  We don't like to look in the mirror and see that sin.  Help us to recognize that sin, and then show us your forgiveness through the good news about your Son, our Savior.  In Your name we pray, Amen.

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