THE SHEPHERD’S CORNER

The other day when I was rummaging through my stored-away belongings, I stumbled upon a picture of somebody, taken several decades ago.  He looked handsome in his suit with a smile on his face.  He was, at the time, climbing up to the top of his career.  He seemed to have a Midas touch; everything he touched—or did—became a success.  His future was certain—his would be a good life.

Unfortunately that is not the case today; instead of at the top, he is at the bottom.  The bright future, which he had seemingly secured in his hands, has slipped away.  Instead of success, he has reaped—and caused—havoc.  In the words of Isaiah (14:12), “How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of dawn!  You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low to the nations!”

Perhaps you also knew people, who, like morning stars, had soared to the sky to be cast down to the earth.  We grieve when we see these once stellar lives crash to the rock bottom. Perhaps we are afraid that the same fate will befall us.  We should rightly be afraid.

But we should be afraid for the right reason.  You see, our down-fall is our own doing. It is not fate; it is not as a result of outside forces’ pressing against us beyond our control; and it is surely not God’s arbitrary action against us, His helpless and powerless creatures.   In fact it is not because of what others did to us; more often than not it is because of the many poor and reckless choices we have made.

This leads me to conclude that the three most expensive words are, “I am sorry.”  Fulton Sheen in his book Life of Christ sums it well, “The good repent on knowing their sin; the evil becomes angry when discovered.”  When God discovers, just say, “I am sorry.”

Pastor Paul