Dorry and I recently got a new pet ... an adorable puppy named Sparky. His mother is a beagle-basset hound mix. The dad left town before his breed could be identified. The result of their fling was a litter that included this very cute and rambunctious mutt that just loves the attention he gets from Dorry:
 |
| Dorry with Sparky |
A funny thing happens, though, when Dorry leaves the house without Sparky. Perhaps it's separation anxiety, but Sparky sometimes goes berserk when Dorry is out of his sight. If he's not on a leash, he runs around in a frenzied panic. If he is on a leash, he'll jump high in the air and do everything he can to try to wrestle his way free from the person on the other end of the line -- i.e., me. Don't get me wrong. I love this dog and am very glad he is ours, but there have been a few fleeting moments when Sparky leaves me pining for a pet rock.
Did you ever have a pet rock? They were a phenomenon in the 1970's, and you still can buy one today. Unlike Sparky, your pet rock can be taught easily to obey commands such as "sit" and "stay." "Roll over" is another matter altogether.
To my surprise, Dad once gave a "shout out" to the pet rock fad in a sermon that also mentioned another piece of 1970's marketing genius: the guilt bag. What followed was perhaps one of the best explanations I've ever read of the concepts of forgiveness and repentance:
"A few years ago, in the era of pet rocks, another novel product on the market was a packet of 'guilt bags.' These were nothing more than brown paper bags with the words 'guilt bag' printed on them. The instructions that came with these bags told the conscience-burdened user to blow all his guilt into the bag, close it up and throw it away. This would bring immediate relief. Now admittedly, this product was a gag, a joke, but I wonder how funny it would be if it did not strike a responsive chord of need in our lives. This product sold like hotcakes as people tried to mask their longing to be free from guilt in the disguise of humor. How sad!"
"I doubt whether any of us can fully comprehend the enormity and the countless manifestations of this drive of persons in our society to make themselves clean and free of guilt. ... Of course, there is neurotic, unhealthy guilt that we don't deserve to have. In such a case, we need to be made to feel not guilty. But all too commonly there is healthy guilt in us, guilt that is there because we are guilty, having messed up our lives and the lives of others. This guilt is to the spirit what pain is to the body -- a warning signal that something is wrong. God put it there to poke and prod us until we make things right with God."
"How then is this guilt directly, effectively, and permanently purged from our lives? What is the cleansing agent, the means or device that we use? ... It is important to begin by realizing that ultimately all sin is against God. The Bible makes clear again and again that sin against our brother and against ourselves is a violation of the image of God in the human person, and thus is a sin against God. And so, because it is God whose will and purpose we offend, it is only God who can do anything about it. It is only God who can say, 'You are forgiven' and make it stick."
"Wouldn't it be wonderful if [there were] a way for you to be forever free from the crippling effects of guilt, a way to rid yourself of the need for all your escapes and rationalizations? We proclaim ... that God has provided just such a way in God's son, Jesus Christ. Just as on the Day of Atonement ancient Jews would symbolically lay all of their iniquity onto the scapegoat and then drive it into the wilderness, so God once and for all has laid our sin upon his Son." As Paul put it in 2 Corinthians 5:21, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." "The Cross of Jesus Christ, the forgiving love of God, is the only way in which we can be truly cleansed and set free from our guilt. God has done his part to show us how much he loves us and wants to forgive us, fully and forever."
"But this is as far as God can go. We cannot be forgiven unless we want it, unless we accept it. The New Testament Greek word for our response is 'metanoia' - repentance. This is not simply feeling sorry from our sin, but actually turning from it, renouncing the guilt-infested life through the power that comes from God's love and forgiveness."
"How often we stop short of this response of repentance, unable to turn away from our old life, miserable though it is. The familiar holds us. Self-sufficiency paralyzes us. We get stuck in the status quo. These keep us from reaching out in faith and grasping hold of the wonderful thing God has done for us in Christ. But here, today, is an opportunity to let God deal with your guilt as only God can. Here is a way to break loose from all of those temporary escapes and false ways we have of feeling better. Here is new life. Take it; it's for you from God with love!"
From: "A Man Should Die"
Scripture: John 11:45-53
To my surprise, Dad once gave a "shout out" to the pet rock fad in a sermon that also mentioned another piece of 1970's marketing genius: the guilt bag. What followed was perhaps one of the best explanations I've ever read of the concepts of forgiveness and repentance:
"A few years ago, in the era of pet rocks, another novel product on the market was a packet of 'guilt bags.' These were nothing more than brown paper bags with the words 'guilt bag' printed on them. The instructions that came with these bags told the conscience-burdened user to blow all his guilt into the bag, close it up and throw it away. This would bring immediate relief. Now admittedly, this product was a gag, a joke, but I wonder how funny it would be if it did not strike a responsive chord of need in our lives. This product sold like hotcakes as people tried to mask their longing to be free from guilt in the disguise of humor. How sad!"
"I doubt whether any of us can fully comprehend the enormity and the countless manifestations of this drive of persons in our society to make themselves clean and free of guilt. ... Of course, there is neurotic, unhealthy guilt that we don't deserve to have. In such a case, we need to be made to feel not guilty. But all too commonly there is healthy guilt in us, guilt that is there because we are guilty, having messed up our lives and the lives of others. This guilt is to the spirit what pain is to the body -- a warning signal that something is wrong. God put it there to poke and prod us until we make things right with God."
"How then is this guilt directly, effectively, and permanently purged from our lives? What is the cleansing agent, the means or device that we use? ... It is important to begin by realizing that ultimately all sin is against God. The Bible makes clear again and again that sin against our brother and against ourselves is a violation of the image of God in the human person, and thus is a sin against God. And so, because it is God whose will and purpose we offend, it is only God who can do anything about it. It is only God who can say, 'You are forgiven' and make it stick."
"Wouldn't it be wonderful if [there were] a way for you to be forever free from the crippling effects of guilt, a way to rid yourself of the need for all your escapes and rationalizations? We proclaim ... that God has provided just such a way in God's son, Jesus Christ. Just as on the Day of Atonement ancient Jews would symbolically lay all of their iniquity onto the scapegoat and then drive it into the wilderness, so God once and for all has laid our sin upon his Son." As Paul put it in 2 Corinthians 5:21, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." "The Cross of Jesus Christ, the forgiving love of God, is the only way in which we can be truly cleansed and set free from our guilt. God has done his part to show us how much he loves us and wants to forgive us, fully and forever."
"But this is as far as God can go. We cannot be forgiven unless we want it, unless we accept it. The New Testament Greek word for our response is 'metanoia' - repentance. This is not simply feeling sorry from our sin, but actually turning from it, renouncing the guilt-infested life through the power that comes from God's love and forgiveness."
"How often we stop short of this response of repentance, unable to turn away from our old life, miserable though it is. The familiar holds us. Self-sufficiency paralyzes us. We get stuck in the status quo. These keep us from reaching out in faith and grasping hold of the wonderful thing God has done for us in Christ. But here, today, is an opportunity to let God deal with your guilt as only God can. Here is a way to break loose from all of those temporary escapes and false ways we have of feeling better. Here is new life. Take it; it's for you from God with love!"
From: "A Man Should Die"
Scripture: John 11:45-53
No comments:
Post a Comment