Short Thoughts

I was reading Psalm 119:136 and was touched by these words:

Streams of tears flow from my eyes, for Your law is not obeyed.

The Psalmist felt grief when he witnessed God's law being disobeyed.

Christ mourned over the fate of Jerusalem, the direct result of the sins of the Jews. We can read His words that reveal His pain and sorrow.

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you were not willing.
Matthew 23:37

Sometimes Christ was angry over sin, as God is often angry in the Old Testament. But more often we see God's sorrow in both Testaments.

The Sin Out There In The World....

I wonder about my own reaction to sin. When I hear a news item that reflects man's evil deeds -- do I sorrow, or am I angry? I think usually I am angry. But not always a 'godly, righteous anger,' but an angeroften tinged with my own pride....like the sinner has committed an affront to my own standards, my own comfort zone. Maybe it has infringed on my own sense of security and well-being. I don't know exactly, but I do know that my own anger at sin is sometimes (often?) concealing some of my own pride and self-righteousness.

I think it would be better if my initial reaction to the evil and sin in this world were more of a sorrow -- a sorrow that the ones who commit the sins are disobeying God's own righteous standards set up for all mankind and so are grieving Him; and a grief for them because they "know not what they do."

The Sin Right Here In My Own Heart....

My own sin -- I am sorry more than angry. I am compassionate and seeking mercy and forgiveness from God. "Forgive me, O God, even though I know what I do."

So I tend to feel sorry for myself for my own sin and feel anger when I see sin in others..... an example of my own double standard.

C. S. Lewis talks about this -- how we can say we 'love the sinner but hate the sin' -- and how that seemed hard for him to understand -- until one day he looked in the mirror and it dawned on him. "Yes," he said, "I am a perfect example of that idea.
I hate my sin, but I love myself."