Today’s theme examines what is forgiveness and how God forgives wholly and completely.
Our sinful nature becomes painfully obvious when you become a parent. Around a year ago Jaden was playing with the power cord on my computer. We had a little talk about how the power chord was Mommy’s and only Mommy and Daddy are allowed to plug it in or take it out. I went back to whatever I was doing and Jaden went back to playing … for a time, and then back he went to the power chord. I said no, reminded him it was only for Mommy or Daddy to touch and he backed off, but then started inching towards it again, this time with a toy in his hand. Instead of him touching the power chord, he kept making the toy touch the power chord, all the while grinning at me as if to say “look Mom, I’m not touching it”
Our sinful nature becomes all to obvious when we became the parent of a toddler. We definitely didn’t teach our son to be disobedient, to “forget” to listen, to hit, to sin, and yet it’s there, a part of him. We are all born sinful and fall short of the amazing potential that God has planned for us.
As I sit here and write this my son is once again testing me, pouring milk all over his plate then trying to flick it at me. Thankfully God is the ultimate authority on parenting and on forgiveness. The forgiveness he offers is complete.
Psalm 103: 1-5, 8-18 ….. says:
God is forgives wholly and completely, regardless of what mistakes we have made. He forgets our sins, forgets his anger, and continues to love us.
Throughout the day, think of the many things God has forgiven you for and rejoice that his forgiveness is complete, he’s already forgotten about your mistakes.
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9 years ago
Click on Psalm 103 to get the text, It couldn't let me copy and paste it here.
ReplyDeletePower chords! A typo that fits the music theme.
ReplyDeleteI was JUST thinking about this kind of thing today. My opinion has always been that people are born innocent. I think this is still true if you consider the word "sin" as describing an intentional act--they can't possibly know better. But I ran into trouble when I started to think about what an act of ignorance should be called.
ReplyDeleteAre unintentionally harmful acts considered sins? What if we know something is wrong but don't understand why it's wrong? Humans have a way of disconnecting reasoning from reality. Today I walked by a "Floor Slippery When Wet" sign and took it to heart. Moments later I managed to slip on a wet spot: even though I was thinking about the floor being slippery I wasn't acting like it actually was and shifting my weight in a way that would prevent slipping (I know this is a silly example but it's my most recent). When I am walking over ice in the winter I am REALLY careful. Why wasn't the sign enough of a warning? Why do I need to SEE the slippery surface to act on it? Why weren't your words of warning enough? What motivates an innocent child to be a smartass?
It will take Jaden a long time to understand why you didn't want him touching the cord and why his workaround was just as bad. Even if he happened to learn the hard way it doesn't mean he won't pull a similar stunt later in life. It may require the context of him one day warning his kids to not touch a cord.
So my question remains: Can you commit a sin without knowing it's a sin beforehand? Is being human (in this case, naturally conniving) sinful?
Thanks for making me think!
Dave & I had a very lengthy discussion about this last night. How can an innocent child be guilty of committing a sin if the child is unaware that his actions are either right or wrong?
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, isn't that the very nature of original sin? We are born with this uncanny ability to do wrong from the time we are just children.
On the OTHER hand, that's the way humans are wired to learn. By testing the limits of right and wrong, good and bad, we learn what we can and cannot do. How can learning be considered sinful?
On the OTHER hand...
See how this could become a very lengthy discussion with no resolve?
And then we read the above comment and were greatly relieved that other people have the same unanswered questions.