Forgiveness

It amazes me, every time that I mess up. When I set one toe out of line. How quickly my God forgives me. I am not perfect. Nor will I ever be. Perfection is unattainable on this earth. Yet it is our ever increasing desire that we would reflect Christ in all that we do. What then are we to do when we stumble, or worse fall? So often we want to hide these problems. Or perhaps pick ourselves up and pretend we never fell in the first place. If I place it in the far back corner of my mind, no one will see it, and no one will ever know. What brought this desire that we must be completely healed before we can stand at the foot of the cross? What brought this delusion that we have to fix ourselves before we can even dare to speak to God about our struggles.

One of my favorite characters in the Bible is a woman. She is not known for saving her people, she was not the mother of Jesus. She was a prostitute. A prostitute who would be welcomed into the Kingdom of God by God himself. Not the church, not the disciples. Not for her money or talent, but for her faith. It is her who would be a part of the lineage of Jesus. It is her to be mentioned for her faith even in the New Testament. It is her, who with her family would survive the slaughter of the city. God welcomed a prostitute who would do His good work. Not when she was done sinning. Not when she had her problems all neatly wrapped up and under control. "When we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath." (Joshua 2:11 NASB)

Rahab the harlot. She knew who God was, and what he could do. She understood. God was there now. God wanted action now. Not later. God would use her just as she was. No different. You see we sometimes think, and are often told, that while we are in sin we cannot help anyone else. That as long as we have that plank in our eye who are we to deal with the speck in theirs. However that does not mean we cannot let our brother know of their wrong. "If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector." (Matthew 18:15-17 NASB) We all sin, and if we are waiting for perfection to get help then we will never be forgiven. We will never get help. We will never be free.