Little Errors Big Trouble

I have discovered that writing posts on an iPad in a tent can be dangerous. My usual poor spelling and grammar is exacerbated by the small print and the predictive text. A few months ago while we were on the Camino in northern Spain this got me into trouble when I was writing about my wife, Hetty. The predictive text changed it to “hefty” without me noticing … and I didn’t check the spelling carefully. My “friends” who read the blog all made sure my wife became aware of my error, many adding, that they didn’t think it was a real error. One of daughters, however, who has since been upgraded in the will, suggested I was referring to my rucksack.

Apart from finding out who my true friends were it is also a good illustration of the power of sin. “For we all have sinned an fall short of the glory of God,” Paul tells us in Romans 3:23. Sin is falling short of God’s holy perfection. It is missing the mark. Whether the error is big or little the consequences can be enormous. We often categorise sin into serious and less serious. Ours are usually less serious and those of others more serious.

Paul’s point is simple; any sin causes us to miss out on perfection, and any lack of perfection  separates us from God.

Christ came to restore us to perfection in God’s sight – a judicial perfection. No judgement hangs over us. All we need to do is have faith in Jesus. The Holy Spirit came to grow us into the people God already sees us as in Jesus. Theologians call this process “sanctification.” There is no room for any arrogance on snobbery on our part no matter how trivial we think our sin may be. In ourselves we will always miss the mark. If you know Jesus as your saviour and king, rejoice in His work for you – you have been declared innocent! If you don’t take time to seek Him out now.

Thanks for reading. It is breakfast time. I will go and make hefty, Hetty a cup of tea.