What always strikes me sideways is how usually within one generation a group of people can totally
leave their roots. They can totally reject their moorings, instead choosing a lifestyle or a set of beliefs
that is exactly opposite of their ancestors. We see it over and over in the Word and we see it in modern
life. Rhode Island is one example of many thousands. Why is this? What is the root of this? The Bible
spends pages explaining the way the heart of man is twisted but reserves the definition for one single
word: sin. Sin simply means to miss the mark. It’s an attempt to do what is right but it never achieves its
goal. It will always be off. And sometimes, as in the case of Rhode Island, way off! It is deceptive, leading
the person to believe they are right, when in fact, they are very wrong. It works in the heart, not just on
the exterior of a man, leading him at the seat of his emotions in a rotten way.
We have a robot vacuum that is just drunk. It can’t vacuum a straight line to save its life. Laura hates it.
We only keep it because of me. Trying to get it to work is like trying to house train a puppy. I’ll take it
and place it in the room I want it to vacuum, and it will pick the line that gets it out of that room. I’ll set
up the invisible laser to keep it out and it finds the one hole to go around it. It’s like it’s determined to
vacuum everything except what I want it to. Aren’t our hearts similar? We chase everything that is bad
for us; we hate only what is good for us. We twist all the truth and straighten out all the lies. We only
have eyes to see what is broken and empty.
The point is to expose sin AND to call all believers to a stronger realization of the presence and work of
Jesus in our lives. Jesus’ death on the cross is the ONLY WAY we can escape the destructive pattern sin
evolves in our lives. And it’s not a gradual escape! Jesus’ rescue of us is complete and final. He doesn’t
have to go back and redo anything He accomplished on the cross. The work is finished! If you gain
anything from our conversation today, hang onto this: Jesus is the perfect answer to every one of our
convoluted questions. He satisfies every single one of our eager desires. He forgives all the times and
every possible way we’ve missed the mark. He is perfect and so is His work. As He draws us into Himself,
we don’t have anything to fear. He will fix us.
Going back to my story about Rhode Island, any sin, big or small, left undealt with, will continue, grow,
fester and eventually kill. The typical response to slavery from Christian leaders before 1776 was “We
can’t live with it and we can’t live without it. If we kill it outright, it will divide and kill our nation. We
must let it die naturally.” And so, they began a process of freeing newborn slaves and letting the
institution die over the course of several generations. The only problem with that is the southern states didn’t adopt that policy. Because slavery was still legal, it thrived south of the Mason Dixon line. Think
how much easier and less blood would have been shed had our founding fathers dealt with the evil of
slavery in the beginning. Because they believed it would die on its own, our nation faced its only Civil
War in our history. May we not be so blind today.
This Sunday we gather to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. This is the hinge point of our faith. Jesus’
resurrection makes it possible for us to recognize the sin present in our life and the world around us and
make it right. I do not pray for people to glory in all the pomp of Easter. Our clothes, the beautiful
decorations, the pictures and gatherings mean nothing apart from Christ. I pray people will glory in Jesus
this weekend.
Will you take a moment this week to invite Jesus into your space? Will you ask Him to soften your heart,
open your eyes and ears, remove the obstacles of sin and culture that make it harder for you to come to
Him and bring you peace? If you will take some time this week to sit with Jesus, Sunday will be so much
different for you. Churches all across the South Arkansas area will be celebrating the resurrection this
Sunday. Come and join one of us and experience the joy of worship and transformational power of
belief in Jesus.