Magazine for October 2009
Pardon me?
Once upon a time, a foreign king wanted to keep friendly relations with a neighbouring country. He invited the ambassador to a lavish meal, and then told him that he could release any prisoner from the prison.
The ambassador decided to make his selection on merit, and he went to meet all the prisoners. To his surprise, many professed their innocence. Others were adamant that the circumstances of their life were the reason for their crime. The ambassador noticed a prisoner sitting quietly in the corner, and he approached this man and asked him about his guilt. The prisoner replied, “My guilt is more than I can bear. I deserve more than my current sentence”.
The ambassador decided that this was the man who should be released. The King could hardly believe his ears. “This is a self-confessed guilty man” he said. “among others who say they are innocent”.
How often have you heard the phrase “I’m not good enough to be a Christian”? The real truth is that we are not good at all, and we constantly do wrong. If we stubbornly insist on playing the innocent, maintaining that devilish desires are to blame, we will be confined in the ‘prison’ of the world.
In the beautiful hymn “Before the throne of God above” (which, amazingly, was written in 1863) the second verse says it all:
When Satan tempts me to despair, and tells me of the guilt within; upward I look and see Him there, who made an end to all my sin. Because the sinless Saviour died, my sinful soul is counted free. For God the just is satisfied, to look on Him and pardon me.
P. E. Archer