"IT"

Chip Heim has written about “IT.”

They laugh and smile and talk and embrace and I do, too.
But sometimes my smile covers a tear. And no one knows! 
Right now my tear is from an it.  I'm sorry, so very sorry I did it. 
I feel like a broken record and the skip is the it that never completely goes away. 

What would they think if they knew my it? Would the laughs vanish?  
The smiles disappear? Would the talk be hurled at me?  The embrace taken back? 
Do THEY have an it?  What do they do with it?  Why do we act for each other when there is no play? There is only life - and life includes a lot of it. 

The point is not to CELEBRATE it  but only to ADMIT to it. 
I am told Jesus knows everything, which means He knows about it. 
And yet He whispers in words too good to be true…. 
“I died for YOU -- don't worry about it. “

On the day of Pentecost after the death of Jesus, Peter and the apostles of Jesus Christ spoke to people who had a terrible problem with it.  What was it?  They had crucified the very Son of God!

Peter confronted them with it.  He concluded with these words:  "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom YOU crucified, both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:36).

When they realized what it was that they had done, they were troubled by it.  "Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’" (Acts 2:37).  They wanted to know what they could do about it.

"Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let EVERY ONE OF YOU be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’" (Acts 2:38).

Peter shared with those people who had a problem with it that EVEN THOUGH they had crucified the Son of God, they could be forgiven of it by placing their trust in Jesus, God’s Son, turning away from those deeds that made His death necessary, and being baptized for the forgiveness of it (see Romans 6:1-6).

You see, what they did NOT realize is that when they crucified Jesus, He was paying the price for it.  (Matthew 26:26-28; 2 Corinthians 5:21).

IT is SIN! You and I ALSO have a problem with it.  "For ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

However, when WE obey the Gospel JUST AS THEY DID on the Day of Pentecost, we are forgiven of EVERY it  that we have committed.  THEN - as we CONTINUE to walk in the light as He is in the light, the blood of Jesus CONTINUES to cleanse us from it 
(1 John 1:5-9).

As we consider God's response to those who crucified the Son of God, ONE thing is clear;

No matter who YOU are or what YOU have done…..Jesus can forgive IT.

Have you Obeyed the Gospel? (click here)

God bless you!

David A. Sargent, Minister 

Church of Christ at Creekwood 
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama  36695

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