DEALING WITH SIN

GENESIS 4:10 (MSG)
GOD said to Cain, “What have you done! The voice of your brother’s blood is calling to me from the ground.

1 TIMOTHY 1:15 (CEB)
This saying is reliable and deserves full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I’m the biggest sinner of all.

SUMMARY SENTENCE

Acknowledging our sinfulness is essential to receiving the gift that Christ gives.

DAILY FODDER
How do the 12 Steps crafted by Alcoholics Anonymous help us understand this reality?

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol — that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

PRAYER
Merciful God, I'm grateful that your grace is greater than all my sin, guilt, and shame. Even as I acknowledge my sinfulness I'm aware of my inability to control it. I can only turn to you and receive the salvation that Christ Jesus secured through his death and resurrection. I'm forever aware of this incredible gift and want others to experience it, too. Amen. 

THE LORD’S PRAYER (ABP)
Our Father in Heaven,
     we hold your name in the highest regard.
Please come and establish your reign here on earth
     so that everything that happens here will align
     with what is happening in heaven.

Give us enough food for today.

Forgive us our wrongdoing,
     and we’ll forgive those who have wronged us.
Shield us from the trials and temptations that come our way.
Lastly, we pray that you will protect us from all forms of evil. Amen.