Proverbs 14 & 15

***Proverbs 14*** Verse 9: "Fools mock at making amends for sin..." Last night at our weekly bible study, the group briefly discussed sin in our culture. One example was brought up... the daughter of an Abiding Grace family is getting married soon in another state. The daughter went to pre-marital counseling with her finace and many other soon to be married couples, and they were surprised that they were the only couple in the group that wasn't living together. Of all the couples that are getting married in this church, they are the only couple not living "in sin". Rumor is that 20 or 30 years ago that would have been an issue. But times have changed and so has society. We no longer base our morals on what the bible says, but on what the culture says. The result is that we become oblivious to our own sins. We don't feel guilty and we don't feel like we need forgiveness. Church has become more about "meaning" and "purpose" than grace and forgiveness. But we are missing something huge... we are missing out on the purpose of Christ's suffering... to forgive sins. The gospel gives us "meaning", but it does so through grace, love and forgiveness. "Meaning" without forgiveness is meaningless because forgiveness isn't just about God, it's also about us letting go of the mistakes that have effected our lives. Holding on to our sins leads to a path of personal destruction... hold on to the cross instead. (I got a little carried with the quotation marks, but I had fun doing it)********************Proverbs 15************************* Verse 23: "A person finds joy in giving an apt reply." There is a member of my congregation whom I love dearly that gets out of bed around 4am everyday. Often times in the peace of the morning he strolls to his computer and sends out a couple emails. I love it when I am up in the middle of the night and one of his emails come, because I can respond right away and surprise him... then I go back to bed. There is something about being able to reply immediately to someone's question, especially through email, that makes you feel good. It makes you feel good because it means you are being productive and efficient. And it makes them feel good because you thought their note was worth reading and replying to immediately. I wish that was the case for all my emails. I have received 30-some emails today that I will try and reply to some time tonight, but I just don't have the time to read them all and reply to them immediately. And I'm sure the same is true for emails I have sent out today. I wonder if the same can be said for God and answering prayers? I don't think God is too busy to respond to us... but like so many other things in life, we just have to patiently wait for a response.