Inspired by Ezra
9:5-15
“O my God, I am too
ashamed and embarrassed to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have
risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.” Ezra 9:6
It starts small. A
little indulgence here, a little loosening of your self-control there. A little cover-up to avoid some minor
unpleasantness, a little more indulgence because there are so few pleasures in
life right now, and then, all of a sudden, you’re in deep. Your life seems to have spiraled out of
control; your own behavior has hurt the people you love most and your closest
relationships are strained or damaged.
You can’t understand how things went so wrong, because you didn’t do
anything terrible; it was just a little thing here and a little thing there,
until you’ve become someone you simply don’t recognize anymore. But you know that you did it; you made your
choices, these are the consequences.
It’s your fault. How can you ever
expect to be forgiven when you so willingly walked away from God and all that
he has given you?
It is in those moments, when we’re in our deepest despair
and loneliness, that God in Christ is closest to us. When we know our guilt, when we know our sin,
and we know we don’t deserve any help at all, God in Christ gives us his
grace. No matter what hurtful things
we’ve done or how deeply in trouble we’ve managed to get ourselves, we’re never
beyond the reach of God’s forgiveness.
It is because we don’t deserve it that Christ came, and his
grace is more than sufficient to cover your sins and encourage you to live the
life you were meant to lead, a life that will cause you no shame or
embarrassment. Because God will never be
too ashamed or embarrassed to call you his own.
Let us pray. Merciful
God, you know our guilt and our sin.
Embrace us with your love, that we may live in the knowledge that you
have wiped away our shame and removed our embarrassment. Through Christ our Lord.
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