Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “True Greatness”
Our Bible verse for today: “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’ – and you forgave the guilt of my sin.” Psalm 33:3-5 (NIV)
Our thought for today: “You can be a flawed person and still be a great person.”
Yesterday we considered the example of the Apostle Peter. As was noted, he was a deeply flawed individual who failed repeatedly. And yet, he was a great man of God. An Apostle of Jesus Christ! A leader in the early Christian church!
Today I want us to consider King David, another deeply flawed individual who is also remembered as one of the great men of the Bible. If you know his story then you know that over the course of his life David was guilty of adultery, murder, lying, deceitfulness, and he was such a poor parent that he directly contributed to the delinquency of some of his children.
But David is remembered as one of the great men in the Bible and is put forward as an example of faith and devotion for the rest of us to follow. How could that be?
The answer is found in Psalm 35:3-5. David sinned but he repented. He failed but he recovered from his failures by bringing them before the Lord. He confessed them, he learned from them, he corrected his behavior, and he moved on with new determination to bring honor and glory to God by the way in which he lived from that point forward.
Being a great man or woman of God doesn’t require perfection. Even the most faithful and committed person blows it from time to time, sometimes in big ways. But great men and women of God have a moral center in their lives, which comes from having Jesus at the center of their lives. That spiritual center of gravity keeps drawing them back to Him. At those times when they sin and fail, they recognize the sin and failure for what it is. Then they confess it, they correct it, they make restitution if needed, and then they move on with life renewed and determined to be a godly person.
Great people of God aren’t perfect, just forgiven. Great men and women of God are anchored, they are centered in Jesus and that then provides the moral compass needed to stay on course – or to get back on course once they have strayed.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 