Everything good was offered by God as an enduring gift at creation. But when we separated from God, the human prospect soured like a carton of curdled milk. Fortunately, we can reclaim what was lost. A realistic outlook begins with an honest appraisal of our true condition.
King Fredrick II, an eighteenth-century king of Prussia, was visiting a prison in Berlin when he discovered honesty in this world is hard to come by. One by one the inmates tried to convince him that they had been framed, duped and unjustly imprisoned. Amid their protests of innocence, the king spotted one man sitting alone in a corner, oblivious to the commotion. When the king asked what the man was there for, the prisoner replied, “Armed robbery, Your Honor.”
The king asked, “Were you guilty?”
“Yes, sir,” he answered. “I entirely deserve my punishment.”
The king quickly issued an order. “Release this guilty man! I don’t want him corrupting all these innocent people.”
“All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” – Isaiah 53:6
SPIRITUAL THOUGHT
Many people are unaware they are lost. Many more don’t know they are found. When we discover we are truly forgiven and accepted by God, it brings the freedom we so desperately seek. And it also brings something else: eternal joy.
“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” – John 15:11
MY PRAYER
Lord, thank You for allowing me to experience Your forgiveness. Today, I place my trust in You. Amen.
