It was a stereotypical Monday morning. I filled my plastic Missouri Baptist Foundation logoed cup with water and placed it on my desk. I opened my computer to start the daily tasks. I carefully reached over to move my cup further away so I would not knock it over. But I immediately knocked it over! The water, of course, went everywhere.
I quickly moved the computer to higher ground and began limiting the floodwaters. Unfortunately, some papers I deemed less critical were sacrificed as I dashed off to get a towel to vanquish this unwelcomed intruder to my day. I quickly cleaned up the spillage, and all looked OK.
However, I have a desk that has a glass top with a wooden desk just underneath it. The desk is nothing fancy. It has been around the Foundation for more than 20 years, but I had two separate sections of the desk connected in a new configuration which required two separate pieces of glass where the desks join together in a 90-degree angle. Sure enough, water had slipped in between the two sections and was mocking me from underneath.
I knew if I let the water stay there, it would eventually ruin the wood finish. The first glass piece is not to large. Approximately, two feet by four feet. The other piece is slightly larger. I estimate about three feet by six feet. So I enlisted a co-worker to help me remove the top. I did not want to move everything off of my desk, ask for help, dry everything, and then try to put the top back, knowing that I would notice the unavoidable fingerprints on the bottom of the glass as soon as I set it back. These inaccessible but easily visible fingerprints would also mock me. (Can you tell I think I get mocked a lot?)
So after several attempts at cleaning them, I decided that I could put the smaller piece back on the desk without any help, as I had easily removed it. But…and do not get ahead of me here, no, I did not drop the glass into a thousand pieces. But, I rested the edge of the glass on the wooden desktop and moved it forward. The result was a deep scratch in the wood precisely underneath where I set my laptop every day.
I know it is not a big thing, but now I stare at that scratch underneath the glass every day and remember my foolishness. It started with a small spill of water and turned to something else. This reminds me of sin. Often we start in one place and end up in a very different place. We did not anticipate a place, and if we had to do it again, we might have chosen differently.
Nevertheless, like most scars in our lives, I will begin to ignore it. Eventually I will no longer see it. With the passage of time I may almost forget about it. At the risk of sounding like a preacher, is this is what many of us do when we consider the cost of our sin. We begin to lose sight of exactly what it cost Jesus. Perhaps this is why His resurrected body still has the scars – to remind us, and Him and maybe even our adversary, that our sin has been paid in full.
In a world where even Christians forget the cost of sin, the vast majority of people do not even know they are guilty; much more than a pardon awaits anyone who repents and believes. Therefore, it is all the more important for people to be shown forgiveness is needed and possible.
It is why I come into the office on Monday mornings, most of the time, without creating a mini-Niagara Falls. I seek to Advance the Gospel by managing money for His ministries and encouraging people to plan their generosity.
We need faithful Christians to support those who have suffered from the sins of broken families and care for abandoned children. We need Christians to remember the commandment to take care of the elderly. In addition, we need faithful Christians to support our three Christian universities with gifts to train leaders to excel in their professions and their faith.
Have you given to support their work? Will you consider including one or all of them in your will or trust? If you do not know where to start, we can help. But do not do nothing.
Every Monday, I will look at that scar on my desk. It will remind me of the scars on His body. It will encourage me get back to work after, of course, I take a swig of my water from my new sippy cup.