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April 1st - 8th
Soon we will celebrate Easter, which is the glorious day that our Savior was raised from the dead so many years ago. In churches all over the World, Easter’s story will be shared with the lost. Certainly, that is the reason for our relationship with Jesus – so we can tell unbelievers about the Hope, the Redemption, we have.
As we meditate on the fact that Jesus willingly laid His body on the Cross, for His hands and feet to be nailed there – for us – to pay the price for our sins, and so that the gulf between God and us would be spanned, let us look within ourselves and ask our Father to reveal any hidden sins. While some may seem “petty” to us, they are deadly - just ask Jesus. He’s the One Who had to die to cover them.
The morning’s walk on the beach didn’t turn out exactly as I had imagined. The sky was somewhat overcast and the winds were brisk but it sure beat the constant heat from the sun. I wore my floppy straw hat and covered my exposed skin with sunscreen. Roger laughed when he said I looked like a bag lady – and, sure enough, I did. I had tied a plastic Publix bag from one of the side belt-loops in my capris, my shirt tail covered by cell phone, the camera swung from around my neck and another capri pocket bulged with the second plastic bag I had just in case it rained. I would stuff my camera and cell phone in that one. My flip-flops and a bottle of water finished my outfit. Thank the Lord the fashion police were no where to be seen, and no one know knew me on this beach!
Most people, when they walk on the beach, look for that perfect shell; and, usually, that’s what I do, too. That’s what I had planned – until the Holy Spirit decided differently. “But why would You want me to pick up shells that had holes eaten in them, Lord?” I wondered. The answer was swift in coming. Just as the “ruined” shells seem of little value, so many people think the same thing of their lives.
I began to see the various disfigurements in the shells as I thought God would see our souls when sin eats its way into our lives. It does not matter the exterior we show the world, God see our hearts and knows are intentions.
With the first few shells I picked up, I thought about jealousy and the envy we try to hide under the guise of smart comments made to others or the need to brag about what we have done for someone.
I contemplated how the results of these sins must appear to our Heavenly Father as terrible grooves and misshapen holes in our souls. God’s Word tells us that these poisons destroy the container where they are held, although they may eat away a little at a time.
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