It doesn't have to destroy

But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don't be afraid..." Genesis 50:19-21a

I cannot tell you how much I love these verses. Tucked away at the tail end of Genesis is a gem that I hold onto in the most trying of circumstances. Even the ones that I bring upon myself...the ones I fully deserve.

When my sin finds me out it does not have to destroy me. It can, but it doesn't have to. My just and faithful God (who is, himself, Justice and Faithfulness) will forgive me and command me to leave my life of sin thereby issuing me the means and the opportunity to grow. As a result of his forgiveness and command I have the opportunity to become more like Christ. Sin drags me far from him, and it also can show me the depth of his love for me. A depth that I would not have seen had I not sinned.

I believe that there is no love in this life without forgiveness. And God has made it so that my sin does not have to destroy me.

It can, so I need to shun it.

It doesn't have to, so I need to flee to him for forgiveness and power to overcome temptation.

He made it so and for this I need to offer my purist worship.

Comments

  1. MarthaMay 24, 2013 at 3:39 PM

    Yes. I think it is so. I too have witnessed the loving hand of a Wonderful Father who takes what looks disastrous and makes it good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mark DudleyMay 24, 2013 at 3:56 PM

      Thanks for stopping by, Martha, and thanks for leaving a comment. I guess I cannot help but see of what God does with sin that finds me out and death itself. What Satan intended to use to drive us far from him, God has decided to use for the betterment of us. It makes my head explode at times. :)

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

tightvnc keyboard mapping problem in Ubuntu 9.04

Image
I have been, off and on, having an issue with the keys on my keyboard mapping to the correct values when using the tightvnc client when paired with the vncserver vino in Ubuntu 9.04. I am not exactly sure what keyboard layout the client and server was expecting, but it seemed like every time I restarted the OS the keyboard mapping problem would come back and I would be at square one again. Well, I think I have found the workaround I was looking for . Hopefully this will help anyone else that is having this issue.
Read more

The manifestation of the "I" and the gift of self - Part 1

I am continuing my journey through Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body and I had never realized how body-focused the 2nd and 3rd chapters of Genesis truly are.  But then it all makes so much more sense when it was brought to my attention that the body we have been given in a manifestation of me, or to put it another way, the "I". And it goes beyond that still. Not only does it reveal me, but my body also reveals, in no small measure, the image of God. That is not to say that God is made of flesh like me as is depicted in so many Renaissance paintings. The old man in the sky is nothing like the God as revealed in the Bible. However, the love that God is, the holiness that he is, the justice he is, the righteousness that he is...all of it is shown to the world through my body. In a very real way, my body allows for others, and for me, to participate in the mystery (the hiddenness) of the image of God. That is by design; from the beginning.  If God is revealed in nature...
Read more

Let me learn what I need to learn

In the “I don’t know what God is trying to produce in me…” portion of the blog: I work across (not with) an incredibly loud person. We are in cubes and he refuses to use a handset when he is in a conference call…or headphones. Everything is done via speaker phone. Maybe his handset is broken? I don’t know and am too timid (read “interested in keeping the peace”) to ask him. Of course he shouts into his speaker phone as well when he talks. Now he even refuses to use a keyboard. He has a speech recognition program that allows him to speak to the computer rather than type. Good for him! Now we can all hear “Comma…open parenthesis…close parenthesis…tab…tab...tab…” Was it my sin or my parents sin that relegated me to this placement in the office. We all know the answer to that but man…it sure feels like I am getting punished for something.
Read more