Succumb or Soar

Have you been watching a football or baseball game on TV and seen one of those signs someone holds up that says, "JOHN 3:16"? Imagine this little post is the back side, the fine print of such a sign . . .

A devotional guide I was using this week had the following prayer in it that caught my attention like a thunderbolt:

Lord, forgive all iniquity.

You speak to us daily through our conscience,
--but we have often been deaf;
Forgive all iniquity.

You speak to us of peace,
--but we have often chosen conflict:
Forgive all iniquity.

Your speak to us of life,
--but we have often succumbed to the small deaths of the spirit that lead one day to destruction:
Forgive all iniquity. 

Succumbing to small deaths? Little ole' moi? I expect to die all at once. What's this about small deaths leading to destruction?

I admit that praying that prayer made my heart squirm a bit. Surely I haven't been guilty of giving God a deaf ear, or choosing conflict ... succumbing to small deaths of my spirit which put me on a path to destruction of myself or others.

As I made dinner that phrase turned over and over in my heart, "we have often succumbed to the small deaths of the spirit ..."  How subtle sin is. I'm not tempted to rob a bank, or shoot someone, or run off with the mailman. 

My temptations are more subtle. Just this once I'll not __show kindness/do the right thing/etc.___. Lord, you know how __busy/tired/etc.__ I am today. Surely you'll let me off the hook this once? 

What help, what remedy is there for bank robbers and for you and me? 

These ponderings help me understand and prepare for the annual remembrance of Holy Week and Christ's journey toward the cross and tomb. 

The problem of sin is the universal perplexity that demands a trustworthy solution . . .

It's not very fashionable these days to talk about being saved from ourselves, i.e. our  sin. It's okay to talk about being spiritual, or enlightened, or any number of similar things. But sin? Forget it. We're pretty good people and we don't really need a Savior. That attitude is one step in the direction of succumbing to small deaths of the spirit. Sticking my fingers in my ears and insisting that I'm not dead to God's voice ... I hear just fine! That's why I need a prayer like the one above. Lord, forgive ME!

The Temptation of Christ in the Wilderness - 1898, Briton Riviere

God's promise of forgiveness is summarized in John's Gospel, chapter 3. John 3:16 may be the most well-known, beloved, and perhaps most scoffed-at verse in the Bible; but it is the crux of the matter, the simple description of the solution. 

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Amazing love isn't it? When I take my fingers out of my ears and hear this amazing love song from God, peace accompanies my repentance, and those small succumbing steps are replaced by soaring on wings like an eagle in the joy and power God gives. 

For all this, I say, "Thanks be to God!"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
MUSIC LINKS 

Here is John Stainer's beautiful choral setting of John 3:16:

God So Loved the World 
Sung by the Sanctuary Choir at Resurrection Lutheran Church, Cary, NC 

Here is a contemporary setting of Isaiah 40:29-31 that sung is in many churches around the world:
On Eagle's Wings - Joncas

My spirit soars when I play music. Here I am playing a joyful, soaring TOCCATA by Buxtehude.