Spirituality: The password is Jesus and walking with God
Dear friends,
They say that most accidents happen due to carelessness. You just act without thinking. That's why so many car accidents happen within minutes from home. When you leave home you are thinking about where you have been rather than on where you are going. Likewise, as you are sailing along on your way home, you just think about getting there.
A couple weeks ago I had one of those crazy moments. Lori and I were heading off for the day. We were going to celebrate Easter with our family. About a mile from home she realized that she may have left her curling iron switched on. We turned around and headed back home. I ran into the house. I went to the bathroom. There it was and it was on.
Without thinking, I reached down to grab the instrument. Unfortunately I grabbed the hot end. I let that thing go in an instant. Reflexes are an amazing gift from God. I still got burned. I put my thumb and index finger under cold water. I grabbed a couple of ice cubes and put them in a baggie and wrapped my hand and the ice in a facecloth.
Once the stinging stopped, I didn't think much about it until a couple of days later. I grabbed my laptop and tried to put in my password. Since my Macbook uses touch ID, I put my finger on the button. It shrugged me off. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
I can't tell you how many times I touched that button. I was puzzled. I thought I was going crazy. Then I remember the curling iron incident. It hit me that I must have burned my finger tip enough so that it was no longer recognizable as being mine. Needless to say, I was locked out of my computer. Thankfully, I had the actual password to unlock my Mac.
This experience got me thinking. That scar on my finger, from a thoughtless act, was a lot like the stain of sin. A lot of our sin comes about as a result of a lapse of judgment. It creeps in as we engage in thoughtless behavior. When we take our eyes off of God, we often fall prey to temptation. Ultimately, sin locks us out of God's good graces.
When God breathed life into us, it was like God put his thumbprint on us and the gates of paradise were open. The problem with sin is that it keeps us from enjoying the benefits we have from being created in the image of God. It ruins our lives. We are no longer able to share the intimate relationship with God from the beginning. Death is now our destiny.
Yet, we have another way to get back in. God has given us the password. The Scriptures tell us that God loved us so much that he gave us the gift of his son. That's Jesus! He is the key. All we have to do is put our faith in him and he will unlock the gates of paradise. Through Christ, we will be able to walk with God again. That's Good News! Praise God!
God bless! See you in church. Cal.
The Rev. Cal Lord is the pastor of Central Baptist Church of Westerly. Reach him at calstigers@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Spirituality: The password is Jesus and walking with God
