Wednesday, March 1, 2006
Genesis 3:8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid them-selves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
ASHES OF REPENTANCE
It didn't take long for Adam and Eve to discover that hiding from God didn't obscure what they had done nor did their hiding take away their sin.
All of Adam's children tend to do the same thing as Adam. Instead of laying their sins before God in repentance, they seek to hide them away, pretending God can't see them.
But this silly game of hide and seek doesn't really hide our sins from God, and it certainly doesn't take them away. Thankfully, God has sought us out by the Gospel and washed our sins away with the blood of His Son (Colossians 1:13-14).
Sins will never become pretty things which we are proud of. But through Christ we become willing to display them to the world. We don't display our sins to brag about how great they are, but to show great and merciful our Savior is.
The Apostle Paul considered himself to be the worst of sinners, and didn't shy away from saying so. He knew that in the forgiveness he received the grace of grace of God was displayed.
"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners -- of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal" ( 1 Timothy 1:15-16).
Today is Ash Wednesday. It isn't unusual to see people wearing ashes in the shape of a cross on their forehead. This is how we should bear our sins in this world. Openly, and with the purpose of drawing attention to the cross, where ours and all sins were paid for.
