A Real “Whodunit”A Devotional
© 2003 Steve Lattier and Men’s Help MinistriesIt is a classic mystery. There is a crime, a victim and evidence now we must find out who the perpetrator is. I must laugh at the evening news even though it shows what a mess we are in these days. Some criminal is caught red handed on video tape or is pulled over in the act of comitting a crime and sure as I am breathing the anchor person on the news will say that the “alleged” perpetrator was placed in custody all the while the video of the crime plays on the tv screen. I wasn’t born yesterday and I appreciate that we live in a country that claims you are innocent until proven guilty in a court, by a jury of your peers. Alleged means that you state without proof, well if the darn thing was caught by a TV camera that kinda constitutes a smidgen of proof I do believe. Our society has gone so far in guarding its words and being politically correct that we have overproteced the lawless and given them grounds to excuse themselves. Crime is no longer the fault of the criminal. There is always someone or something else to blame. We Christians have been soaked in that mentality for too long as well. Sin isn’t sin anymore if you have an excuse. It is a fact, Christian, you are going to blow it. You will probably even blow it sometime today, you are human. Sin is going to happen. It isn’t necessarily going to be a marriage, or life ending one either. You should have this thought process at all times. “I am only one poor decision away from sin at this very moment.” Kind of sobering isn’t it? It’s real, very real.
The Word:Genesis 4:7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."There is another scripture in Matthew about evil desires residing in our hearts. But this study isn’t about how apt we are to sin it is about how sin blocks our progress to God. Sin is a veritable “don’t walk” light in the intersections of our walk with God. You simply cannot move forward if you have sin in your life. That sounds like a catch-22 doesn’t it. We can’t move forward with sin in our life but yet we all have and will continue to commit sins. God has placed a “push to walk” button at all the intersections for us though. It is confession, repentance and forgiveness. The first step in that is of course confession. In our society we struggle with admitting fault. There are several ways that we blow the opportunity. One is flat denial, even in the face of condemning evidence. (like a crook caught on video yelling “It wasn’t me!” ) One that is becoming more and more prevelant in society today in our age of political correctness, is the conditional admission. Yes I did it, BUT….blah blah. How many marriages have been ruined by that? Yes, I cheated but if you had been home more… Excuse me?? They can stop after the “yes I cheated” part. That is where God is going to judge them or forgive them. Another is the “pass the buck admission” “gee, I am sorry you got offended by what I said.” If I hear that right, that person just quietly passed the blame to the offendee! Now it is the offendees fault for getting offended! How preposterous, but you hear it all the time don’t you. You might have even said it too huh? In society today and it permeates into the church as well we are simply not responsible for our actions anymore. There are mitigating and extenuating circumstances to explain away everything. It is far easier to believe that someone else is at fault than to knuckle under and just accept that we sinned. I grew up poor. My parents called each other names. My cousins, best friends, aunt shaved my head when I was four and now that gives me the right to fraud the insurance company and hit my dog with liquor bottles. Hey, sure an abberant upbringing does explain many psychological phenomenon, BUT it does not excuse sin. Jesus shouldered a cross for us. The least we can do is admit when we fail, honestly without all those qualifiying circumstances.
The Word:1 John 1:8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. Why do you think that we have so much trouble admitting that we fail? We do though, not that I am any better than you but I too have never been one to rush to admit fault. The enemy has managed to convince society that it is far easier and better/safer to decieve ourselves and even each other than to have bold honesty. Scary isn’t it. We have come so far in technology that I heard this week that scientists recorded sound waves from a black hole some 273 million light years from here, yet we cannot be honest with ourselves, each other or our God. If we cannot do that then how can we possibly repent? In order to truly repent of a thing we must acknowledge fault, right? The enemy knows this and will conive and convince you that you are not at fault so that your progress with God will be impeded and your relationship with the person you sinned against will be damaged. You will step outside of the will of God when you won’t admit fault and repent.
The Word:Luke 13:2 Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them -- do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."You see Christian the path to life requires repentance. The path to repentance requires admission of guilt. I had, shall we say a colorful past. (translate = riddled with sin) Along the road I found many other things to blame it on, from my upbringing to the prevelant attitude at the school I graduated from. It was a revelation the day I came to understand that none of those extraneous things mattered, the sins in my life were the result of the consious, albeit awful, choices that I had made. All in all my sin was my fault and no one elses. God will not turn on the “walk” light until you too come to that revelation Christian. You cannot move past the place you are right now without accepting fault for your mistakes. The good news that the enemy doesn’t want you to know is that honest confession and admitting that you in fact did do it and are terribly sorry, brings healing in Gods kingdom.
The WordActs 3:19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you--even Jesus.Pray with me: Father, Almighty God, I repent of denying my guilt all this time. Lord there have been many sins in my life. Father I do not even remember many of them anymore. I confess them to you Lord. Forgive me of all those sins that I am thinking of right now, even the ones that I have forgotten. Refresh me, restore me and give me the strength to accept my guilt when I am wrong. Show me your mercy. Use me! Change me forever! Make it so in Jesus name. Amen!If you are not saved and would like more information please email me, see me, or visit us at
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