[Wednesday's Devotional] - Guilty?...

Guilty?...
As I mentioned yesterday, there are times when we think we have done our best and/or done what was right, only to be made to feel guilty about it.  Perhaps we have offered help of some sort only to be told to “mind your own business” or “we don’t need your help. Clear off!”  I remember when we did Refresh on a Friday night till about 2 a.m. we got called a few names now and then, although there were many who were pleased to take advantage of the tea and coffee we were offering, and some who wanted to know more of our Christian belief.

I’m sure we have all experienced the situation where we have been told to look after something, and when it went wrong (there being nothing we could have done to stop it and through no fault of our own) – we got the blame – we were guilty.  No use asking for understanding – we were there so it was our fault.

At boarding school I had been learning to play the clarinet for about a year and it was my last year with GCE ‘O’ levels coming up in a couple of months.  The Headmaster told me that I should give up the clarinet lessons and concentrate on my studies for the exams. So I told our clarinet tutor I would have to stop.  The next time I saw the Headmaster I was berated as “a boy who never sticks at anything, but gives up all the time.”  No point in saying anything, I was already adjudged ‘Guilty’.

Mind you there were plenty of times when I really was guilty of something and got caught out!  And there have been times along the way when I’ve done something I shouldn’t have and believed I got away with it.  On earth, yes I have, but God always knew what I had been up to, so I was guilty again.

Lord, thank you for the grace and mercy you have shown, even when I refused to act and believe as a Christian.  And thank you for comforting me when I have been made to feel guilty even though I tried to be good.  Amen.

Jim Finch