A WORD FOR TODAY, March 30, 2023
Peggy Hoppes
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Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, March 30, 2023
“Blessed is a person who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God,’ for God can’t be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed. Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin. The sin, when it is full grown, produces death. 16 Don’t be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow. Of his own will he gave birth to us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.” James 1:12-18, WEB
I was making copies for a teacher at a school where I volunteered one day. The copier repairman came into the room while I was in the middle of a rather large job, so he waited patiently while the copies were printed. He had been called because faint lines were showing up on all the copies, He made one copy, wiped down the glass scanning surface, and then made another copy. The second copy was clean. The trouble was caused by two small dots of white-out that were left on the surface by someone who rushed a job without letting the white-out on their sheet dry properly. A moment of impatience caused problems for others and the repairman had to make a special trip to fix something that was easily avoidable.
We do so many things on a daily basis that seem harmless but should be avoided because they cause problems we do not realize. We rush into things because we lack patience. We let ourselves overreact to situations with bursts of anger or bad language. We think it is no big deal if we take a grape or piece of candy without paying. We tell a small lie or tolerate something we know is not right. We ignore the needs of our neighbors under the guise that it is none of our business. We watch things on the television or do things on the computer that seem harmless. No matter how small these sins seem, they can cause greater problems that we may not ever realize.
The teacher that caused the problem with the wet spots of white-out probably never knew the lines
were his or her fault. The copier repairman might not bother to instruct the teachers about the problem because he gets paid for every visit no matter how difficult the repair job. He was paid well for the two minutes of work. One moment of impatience caused trouble for the fellow teachers and cost the school money they could have used elsewhere.
We do not always know the effect of the small sins that seem so harmless. Children learn from what they see, feelings are fragile, lies lead to greater lies. This is not only true of the actions that can be seen, but also with the thoughts that are known only in our minds and by God. They can lead to greater sins, building ever greater until it is too late to stop the harm that is caused. Though we don’t have the strength on our own to overcome these things, we do have One who gives us the strength to reject that which leads us astray. Our Lord Jesus overcame all temptations so that His Word might bring us forth into new life.
A WORD FOR TODAY is posted five days a week – Monday through Friday. The devotional on Wednesday takes a look at the scripture from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday. A WORD FOR TODAY is posted on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Word-for-Today-Devotional/339428839418276. Like the page to receive the devotion through Facebook. For information and to access our archives, visit http://www.awordfortoday.org
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