From my Pastors Monday morning email: You may know that there are people out there who make a living trying to register all of the domain names that they think might someday be wanted by people who have the money to pay big dollars to get that name as their own. A case in point that you may remember from a few years ago dealt with Cardinal Ratzinger as he became Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. When Pope John Paul died, a man named Roger Cadenhead quickly registered the web address BenedictXVI, thinking this might be the name chosen by the new pope. Sure enough, when Cardinal Ratzinger was elected Pope, he did choose the name Pope Benedict XVI, causing some to question what the Vatican would have to do to get the rights to that domain name. Interestingly enough, Cadenhead didn’t ask the Vatican for money. Instead, in a humorous way he suggested some things that he would be willing to trade for the website name. Three of them were: 1. Three days, two nights, all expenses paid at the Vatican hotel. 2. One of those hats (referring to the bishop’s hat). 3. Complete absolution, no questions asked, for the third week of March 1987. You may wonder what Roger did the third week of March in 1987? But does it really matter? Most of us have at least a week for which we would love to have total forgiveness, no questions asked and no strings attached. We know from Chapter 12 of The Story that dear King David sure did. One day when the army is at war, David, who is the commander and chief of the nation’s military, neglects his duties and stays behind. He sees Bathsheba, seduces her, gets her pregnant, murders her husband, and tries to cover up his actions by deceiving his general and soldiers. Then he marries Bathsheba and she bears their child. It looks for a time as if David will get away with all of this since Bathsheba is not talking and her husband Uriah is dead. But he doesn’t. God loves him enough to send his prophet Nathan to confront David by telling him a story about a poor man with one little lamb. David knows a thing or two about sheep and shepherds, so he listens. Nathan says that the poor man has a rich neighbor who needs to slaughter a lamb to feed a guest, but instead of taking one of his many sheep he steals the poor man’s one lamb. David is outraged and says that this thieving, conniving man must be put to death. Nathan then declares, “You are the man!” At that moment David must have wished he had bought a domain name that he could swap for absolution. Like us, I am sure he wanted to make excuses. Explain things away. Blame it on Bathsheba for taking a bath in broad daylight where he could see. Or, maybe even blame God for making her so beautiful. But instead of making excuses, David confesses. “I have sinned against the Lord.” (2 Samuel 12:13) And God did with David’s sin what he does with yours and mine. He puts it away. (Psalm 103:12-13) You can do what David did. Whatever your “third week of March” might be, sit down with it, just you and God. Confess your sin. And then let another Shepherd from Bethlehem forgive it. You can be certain that is far better than any domain name you might ever run across. Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for the forgiveness that is mine, free and clear to me, because of the incredible price You allowed Your Son, my Savior Jesus Christ, to pay for me on the cross of Calvary. It is in His name that I offer You this thanks. Amen!
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 13:19:35 +0000