Life Jacket

“You brag about being in the law but are you bringing shame on the law of God by not obeying it?” Rom 2:23 (Simple English Bible)

There was only one occasion in which my mother told me she was deeply ashamed of me. I jokingly pushed another boy off a dock into the lake when he was practicing his diving — we were both about ten at the time and I thought it was a huge joke as he angrily splashed around, shouting at me. I told my mother about this huge laugh and she grabbed me, hustled me over to the boy who was sitting with his parents and made me apologize. I wasn’t sincere until Mom told me that she was deeply ashamed of my behavior.

Whenever I read this verse, I often wonder if this is how God feels about us when we deliberately disobey and continue in our worldly ways. I think there is this idea that our weekly cleansing comes around on Sunday when we worship together and if we miss this occasion, then there will be plenty of others in the following weeks. So there is no pressing need to apologize or be ashamed of anything. It’s like having a free lifeline of absolution whenever we feel like it and if a really big storm comes, we repent fervently….until the next time.

So the question comes: is God just a life preserver or a perserver of life?

Steve