Playing With Fire

    “If a man does not repent, God will whet His sword; He has bent and readied His bow” Psalm 7:12

     There is a preacher I know who is now well into his eighties. He is one of the godliest men I have ever known and I have as much respect for him as any man. I was surprised to hear that this veteran soldier of Christ approached one of his brethren, a friend of his for several decades, to essentially “come clean” over an incident that had taken place nearly fifty years prior. As it turned out this older preacher had wronged the other Christian in secret and had never allowed the light of day to shine upon his actions all those years ago. He finally came to the conclusion that he could never rest assured of his salvation until he repented of the action not just to God, but to the man he had wronged. Indeed, he did not believe that he really had repented unto God until he sought to make things right with his friend.

     Does it seem strange to you that my friend would be worrying himself over something that had taken place fifty years prior? Does it seem odd that he would approach that man and apologize to him over something that man could barely even remember? I believe that my friend made the right choice. There is no statute of limitations on our sins. The mere passing of time does not lessen the significance or a sin nor does it erase the stain it leaves on our soul. When a person becomes a Christian by submitting to Christ in humble faith and contacting His precious blood in the waters of baptism (Romans 6), the sins of the past are washed clean (Acts 22:16). Part of that process is repenting of those past sins (Luke 13:3, 5).

    However, repentance remains incredibly important in the life of the Christian. The sad truth is that though the faithful Christian sins far less, he still sins. To continue to be washed clean by the blood of Christ he must be willing to continue to repent of his sins (1 John 1:8-9; Acts 8:22). 

     Let us not play with the fire of sin. When we see it in our lives let us join voice with David. “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.”  (Psalm 51:1)