CAPA Corner: Words of Encouragement from the Central Area Pastor’s Association

    For a year now, I have wanted to chop down three massive bushes along the back part of our property.  They were bulky, and were just something to get in the way of cutting the grass.  The problem is that they were so big, there was no way I would be able to get rid of them.  Well, This morning there was a company working along the servitude ditch right where the bushes were, and they were using a small ditch digging backhoe for the job.  Figuring it was a long shot; I decided I would ask them to take care of those bushes for me.  Not only did they agree, but also they were happy to because those bushes were in the way of them doing their job.  It was a win/win!  They even hauled the bushes away with the other things they had taken down!  Now that’s service.  You see, I needed the bushes to come down, and I had wanted to do it for some time, but I was not equipped to take them down.  In my own strength (with a shovel) it was a hopeless cause, but with the backhoe, it was a cinch.

     I think my experience greatly describes what Christ has done for us.  We are sinners, and we have the incredible need for forgiveness.  If left to our own ability and works, we have no hope of being good enough or righteous enough to earn salvation.  And, if nothing is done, that sin will stay stubbornly rooted in our hearts.  If we die in our sin, we will face judgment.  But Christ, in his perfection was equipped to deal with our sin.  Through the cross, he has the power to uproot the sin that destroys our life, and in fact, he is glad to do so, because it’s just in the way of the work he wants to do in us.

     But here is the catch: God won’t come and bring forgiveness and root out the sin in our lives unless we want him to and ask him to.  Just like I had to go out and ask the men to take down the bushes, we must ask God to come in and do a work in our lives.  Are you tired of sin destroying your life?  Are ready to get rid of the shame and the guilt?  God is ready to do a work in your life.  Will you ask him?

     “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” -1 John 1:9