One Greater than the Other? - June 25, 2009

Good Thursday morning! I took a short drive this morning just to get out of the house for a bit. Praise God for the time to reflect!

You may have heard about the missing governor of South Carolina. If not, he has returned and admitted to an affair with a woman in Argentina. Another of the mighty have fallen. When will it stop? We seem to have two crimes here. Adultery, a sin against God and his wife, and a failure to tell the truth to his security staff and other officers of his administration. You might remember the lie about hiking in the Appalachians by himself. Which is the greater sin? Should we worry about either one? Is it any of our business at all?

I know that in the military both would be serious crimes. Leaving the country without permission and being away from his post without leave would get a military man assigned to new quarters in the base brig. As a Marine veteran, I tend to think of being AWOL as the greater crime. As a wife, you might think that adultery is the greater crime. As a husband, another man might think that the whole thing is perfectly understandable. All of us may be wrong, especially thinking it all perfectly understandable! We don't know which action God thinks is the greater sin or if all of those sins are simply sin. From our own situation or experience, each of us may tend to become angry more quickly over one type of sin than another. However, Jesus died for all sins and God judges all sins.

These days the world forgets the sin of adultery far too easily in some cases (politicians, actors) and judges very harshly in others (Christian ministers). Jesus found one woman and simply told her to never do it again. Before we jump to the conclusion that we should forgive and let the sinner walk away, let us remember that prior to Jesus' intervention the woman had been taken by the authorities and was on her final walk to be stoned. I don't want you to try to imagine her thoughts at that time, you need to start your work day, but I'm sure she endured a difficult time. We too are saved only by the intervention of Jesus. This life is nothing but the final walk to eternal punishment without Jesus' timely saving grace for those who will believe and repent.

Take time to thank God for the grace of Christ in your life today,

Bucky