I’ve mentioned that I’m a member of two social media groups for bereaved parents. It always saddens me when parents post that they are worried and afraid that their child might not have made it to Heaven. Usually, these worries are related to how their child died – from drug or alcohol abuse, while committing a crime, due to suicide – or other sinful or unlawful activities surrounding their death.
We are all flawed human beings. And even those of us who have professed our faith and hope in Jesus Christ are not immune to sin. Jesus told the woman at the well to “go and sin no more.” And, while she recognized Him as the Messiah and vowed to change her way of living, I doubt she lived the rest of her days on Earth without a single sinful action.
What she gained in her recognition and belief in Jesus was, not only the desire to live sinlessly, but the assurance that if she did sin, she could confess that sin to Christ, ask for forgiveness, and it would be granted. Her sin would not condemn her. If she was truly contrite, her place in Heaven with Jesus was still assured.
The My Daily Bread devotion from September 25th talked about a man who died unexpectedly. Just before he died, he made some poor decisions and bad choices that precipitated his sudden demise. Still, he had been an upstanding citizen and a good father most of his life. He had also been a professed believer in Christ. His actions right before his death did not define the whole of his life. Nor did they negate his standing as a saved soul in God’s eyes.
There are many examples of people in the Bible who were honored and praised and yet committed serious sins. King Solomon, supposedly the wisest man who ever lived, had multiple wives. Some of these wives worshipped other gods than Yahweh. And to ingratiate himself to these women, Solomon sometimes worshipped their pagan gods.
Solomon’s own father, King David, committed adultery with another man’s wife, Bathsheba. When she became pregnant, David arranged for her husband, Uriah, to die.
Both Solomon and David are regarded among the most influential people in the Bible. And Jesus Christ was of their birth-line.
This world is riddled with temptations. It wasn’t created to be that way. Still, human beings from the dawn of time have been susceptible to shiny, dangling things that look so enticing surely one little taste can’t hurt us. That one bite can turn into an entire apple before we know it.
What it doesn’t have to turn in to is complete condemnation. Romans 8:1 says:
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus …
Sweet, worried parent, if your child accepted Christ into his or her heart, there is no power greater than God’s to forgive your child. And to forgive us. Over and over and over again.
Laura
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