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“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.” – Matthew 23:23

First of all, we all sin. No matter how hard we try, the only one that every lived a sin free life is Jesus :). Fortunately for us, He is here to forgive us 🙂 But the truth is, we do not want to sin. And when we do, we need to seek forgiveness through Jesus.

There are all kinds of sins. Catholics divide them into venial and mortal. Other Christian churches divide them into serious-and not. I like to think of sins as an onion. The top layer that we peel off reminds me of the big, glaring, impossible to miss sins. Sins like adultery or stealing…The next layers inside remind me of the sins that I need to grow in my faith to see, sins like being unkind or critical, taking the larger piece of cake, telling a “white” lie like when I tell someone I can’t meet them because I am busy, the times I took the TV remote control for myself!

And then there is the very inside layer. Growing closer to God allows me to see this layer more clearly. Some think of these as the little sins, but I think of them as big. The first two are the sins of “commission”, but the last is a sin of “omission”. It’s the times I could have stopped and helped a homeless person, but didn’t. The times I could have taken a few moments to encourage someone, but was too busy. The times I could have held someone up, but told myself I was too tired. The times I could have spent listening to someone on the phone, because they just needed someone to listen, but didn’t, the times I could have forgiven someone, but held onto a grudge…There are so many of these types of sins in our lives, sins where we were less then loving.

We ask God to have Mercy on us; we need to have Mercy on others.

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready!

“If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” – Mark 8:38

“Know that it IS important that people know what you stand for. It IS equally important that they know what you won’t stand for. Stand up for Christ! Do not hesitate. He stood up for you and suffered and died for you, even when you were still a sinner. IS that not enough? Amen.” – A Friend

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready!

“⁷ And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? ⁸ I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” -Luke18:7-8

God is always Just! And God is always Fair 🙂 It is part of who He is!

It can be hard to watch all the evil that goes on in our world. Seemingly without consequence. But consequences will come.

The first step towards God’s Justice is Prayer. Ask God for it!