Pick Up Now or Later?

I've been telling you about my new, shiny red Troy-built push mower.  Like I said, I mowed the grass this weekend.  But what Ididn't tell you is that I have a dog named Hoss.  Stop and ask your parents about the "Ponderosa" right now, and you will know how big my dog, Hoss is.

Allright I'll tell you.  He is a big friendly Black Labrador of about 110 pounds.  Now Hoss leaves piles in our yard; they are not small piles, since Hoss is not a small dog.  But in my wisdom I thought, "I'll pick up the piles after I finish mowing."  After all I was really excited to use my new, shiny red mower...Not a good idea.

First, I ran over a pile and mulched it with my new mower.  By the way, mulching a pile makes it way more difficult to pick it up later.  Moments later I stepped in one of Hoss's piles.  Yep, stepping in a pile makes it way more difficult to pick up later too.

So guess what?  I got to thinkin' and I realized I was wrong about piles.  I should always pick them up first.

Sin, disobeying God, is like this.  So often we try to just go on without admitting what we've done wrong.  The problem is we keep stepping into the wrong stuff we've done or avoiding the wrong.  When we don't deal with it, sin becomes more difficult to deal with later.

How do we pick it up now?  The Bible says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9),"  Sooooo, if we tell God we are wrong and we are sorry and if we apologize to those we've hurt and ask their forgiveness, we can receive the forgiveness Jesus purchased at the cross for us.  This allows us to move ahead freely!  It's like mowing in a clean yard!

Can we pray that we'll learn this lesson?  Dear Lord, sometimes it's hard to admit we're wrong, but we want our life to be clean.  Will You help us turn away from the wrong things we do by admitting we are wrong, when we are, and by accepting Your forgiveness.  Thank You for being a forgiving God and thank You for providing forgiveness through Jesus!  In Jesus name, Amen.

Proud of you
Pastor Wilson