Pastor's Page
A Daily Need
Not long ago my family and I were in the Imperial Valley way
down in Southern California. It is a wide agricultural valley, much of it below
sea level. It didn’t seem to be overly populated compared to the rest of the
state, and yet throughout the valley there was the yellow haze smog.
At first this was a surprise to us, but a little thought
made us realize that the smog had originated elsewhere – with all the
automobiles in the coastal cities like San Diego and Los Angeles. The
prevailing winds no doubt blew the smog in. There is nothing the people of the
Imperial Valley can do about it, I’m sure. They just have to live with it.
So do we. We just have to live with it. We live in a world
that the Lord created “good.” Our first parents lived in a perfect Garden free
from sin, sickness and death. But we know the account of how they rebelled
against the Lord and brought sin into the world. Their sin, like the smog from
the coastal cities, has been blown into each of our live and become our sin
too.
And we have to live with it. We have to live with all the
sin our neighbors generate that blows into our lives. They have to live with
all the sin that we generate that blows into their lives. Sometimes the smog we
all generate becomes intolerable and erupts into jealousy, conflicts, violence,
bitterness, revenge, hatred and wars. Because of that we have a daily need for
forgiveness from the Lord Jesus and one another. Because of that we daily look
to the cross of our Lord Jesus. Because of that we come to Communion for the
assurance of the forgiveness of our sins. Because of that we begin our worship
services with a confession of sins – because we need forgiveness very much.
We also need a day to come when the Lord will set things
right – when he will blow the smog out of the valley for good. Otherwise it
will never happen. But He has promised to do that. He has promised to return to
our world. No more will the sins of others cause ruin in our lives. No more
will our sin cause ruin in theirs.
Until that time we have to live with it. And yet we live in
hope – not that this world will be free of sin and evil, But in keeping with
God’s promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where
righteousness dwells (II Peter 3).
Pastor Bill Lehmann