Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger
    or discipline me in your wrath.
Your arrows have pierced me,
    and your hand has come down on me.
Because of your wrath there is no health in my body;
    there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin.
My guilt has overwhelmed me
    like a burden too heavy to bear.

• Psalm 38:1-4

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.

• 1 Timothy 1:15

“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

• Isaiah 1:18

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

• Psalm 103:11-12

“You write much about your own sins. Beware … lest humility should pass over into anxiety or sadness. It is bidden us to ‘rejoice and always rejoice.’ Jesus has cancelled the handwriting which was against us.  Lift up our hearts!”

• C.S. Lewis, Letters: C.S. Lewis, Don Giovanni Calabria

Do you hang onto your sin?  Do you wear sackcloth and ashes over every misdeed?

Someone asked me a long time ago why I was so arrogant.  God had forgiven that sin, why could I not let it go?

But let’s get real for a moment.  King David lamented that his sin was too much for him to bear.  David was supposed to be the man after God’s own heart, and at times he felt the weight of his sin.  He knew his place in God’s kingdom was secure, but he was not arrogant enough to think his sins were little ones.

Any sin can tear the fabric made when we get closer to God.  If you are like me, there are so many mended spots in that fabric that it looks more like mended spots than fabric.

But God forgives us.  That gives us no free license to carry on with our “bad” selves, but once we stop, turn around, and try not to take that wrong step again, we can let go of the guilt.  And if we can remember how we had screwed up the last time without feeling the guilt, that memory may help us not turn down that road again.

I am a math purist of sorts.  Ask a hundred of your friends what does it mean to turn around in terms of degrees, and probably most of them will say “do a 360,” but that is the way most of us repent.  When you do a 360 (a 360-degree turn) you are pointed in the same direction toward the wrong thing.  To repent, we turn 180 degrees so that we face in the opposite direction.

But I have heard of a better way to describe it that does not use degrees of a turn.  To repent, we turn to Jesus.  Isn’t that the point anyway?

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.