Presented to River Street Cafe, 12 May 2017
Read Romans 6:1-4
If you
can grab a pencil or a pen... hold it up. Now, put it in your other hand. I
want you to write your name on a piece of paper. If you are right-handed, I
want you to write it with your left hand. If you are left-handed, I want you to
write it with your right hand. Everyone got their name down on the piece of
paper. How was that? How did it feel to write with your non-dominant hand?
When I
was studying to be an elementary school teacher they encouraged the ‘righties’
to learn how to write on the chalk board (remember those?) with their left
hands because in our language we read and write from left to right. Thus if we
write with our left hand we don’t need to turn our back on the class when we
are writing on the board. I did my teacher training in the inner city. That was
important.
The
thing is it can be done but it feels awkward. This is sort of like sin and
holiness. When we first become a Christian, sometimes it feels really awkward
not sinning - especially if there are some things that you have been doing for
a long time. When we try not to lie or steal (maybe) it can be like writing
with your other hand.
That is
similar to when I quit drinking or smoking. It felt weird. I felt embarrassed
to order a non-alcoholic drink and then when everyone else was going for a
smoke break at work, I didn’t know what to do with myself. This is what sin is
like as God reveals it to us, as we give it over to Him.
The
good news is that over time it is like we switch from being one-handed to being
the other-handed. What felt strange to us now feels natural to us and what once
felt natural to us feels strange. It really is like we were writing with the
wrong hand our whole lives until we met God – it is only then that we
discovered that we were actually other-handed. The more time we spend with God
the more natural it becomes to write with the correct hand – and then why would
we want to go back to writing with the wrong hand?
This
is my encouragement with us today. Keep practicing writing with God’s hand.
Read your Bible every day – even just a little bit of it. Come here for
devotions everyday as you can. Go to church every Sunday as you can. Do unto
others as God would have you do unto others. The more we do all of this, the
more all of this will be as easy as writing with our dominant hand and the more
we serve God the more sinning will feel like we are writing with the wrong
hand.
Let us
pray.
Posts
