I overheard a conversation about a co-worker of mine the other day. He had been placed on probation at work and the guidelines were "three strikes and you're out", an obvious allusion to the game of baseball. He had already had one strike against him and it looked like he had blundered into making another one. My heart went out to the poor guy because he had confided with me in detail the difficult circumstances he was encountering. Having his back up against the wall with this guideline must really be making life stressful for him.
Then on Saturday, at my men's breakfast, Denny was reading 1 John 2:1-2. "My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father -- Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for our but also for the sins of the whole world."
As Denny finished reading those two verses he commented that "there was a lot in there!" We never did get past those two verses in our discussion! Indeed, they immediately brought back to me that conversation I had overheard. We decided that we are truly blessed that God's plan of salvation is not a "three strikes and you're out" deal! Though the verses start with the lofty hope that we will not sin, it quickly moves on to the realization that we will, most regrettably, continue to sin. Even so, we can live in the realization that God is not keeping an indelible copy of our wrongdoings. He promises that the record of our sins is "blood soluble!"
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