By Brother Steve Rankin
I don’t think I’ll ever forget the day Kirk (not his real name), an outstanding student and classic big man on campus, came to my office to talk to me about something he had done. He had gone to a party to celebrate an award he had won. Contrary to his normal behavior (he usually drank very sparingly), he had too much to drink and did something while under the influence of alcohol that caused harm to someone else. This behavior, both the drinking and the offense went so against his character that he was utterly mortified. I watched him twist and turn in the office chair as he tried to come to grips with his sin.
Who among us has not felt the sting of shame (not a popular word anymore) over something we have done? What do you do when, like Christian in John Bunyan’s classic, Pilgrim’s Progress, you fall into the Slough of Despond, a swampy pit of despair that sucks you down and tempts you to feel like there’s no way out?
Psalm 51:16-17 gives an answer. The psalmist reminds us that God takes no delight in sacrifice. We cannot undo what we have done. Our world tries to assign monetary value to some crimes that don’t have money involved, not theft or destruction of property. The money may in some way compensate but it doesn’t deal with the consequences of the act itself.
Only God can heal the heartbrokenness of sin. “A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” A heart truly sorry for what one has done and truly desiring to come clean is the sacrifice God accepts. Colossians 2:14 tells us that God in Christ “erases the record that stood against us.” Only God can take away the sting of sin. And God has done it! Forgiveness and healing await the one with a contrite heart.
That college student graduated a few weeks after this conversation. I lost touch with him. I wonder how he’s doing. Does he continue to carry around his guilt, like a hundred-pound weight? Or does he know the freedom arising from a contrite heart and the forgiveness of a merciful, almighty God? How about you?
