Day #196

July 15, 2014

It’s Tuesday and, no surprise, there is another “nugget” from Bible Study.

We were discussing the final chapter of Galatians and began with the verses about the fruits of the Spirit. When you are talking about love, joy, peace, patience, etc., it is hard not to also talk about the antithesis - envy, greed, etc. A question was raised about the degrees, if you will, of sin. I haven’t done any of the “worst” ones, I remember telling someone once. In response, they tried to explain to me that sin is sin; the “small” or the “worst” are still sin.

Here is the intersection moment. Have you ever dropped a bit of mustard or ketchup down the front of a white shirt? It may just be a little speck, but the shirt is still dirty. You might as well toss it out, because that little speck is as noticeable as if the whole shirt were stained. Until something takes the stain out - some sort of stain remover - it’s unwearable. It doesn’t matter if the stain is small or large, it takes something from outside it to make the shirt clean again.

That’s what Jesus did for the world through his life, death and resurrection. “Small” or “worst,” sin is sin, yet God will/does forgive. Through Jesus, no one need be tossed out. All are loved and worthy.

Blessings.