It seems most Sundays I find myself on the praise team at church for early service. The coordinator switches me from tenor to bass, depending on what she needs at the moment. I think I am one of the few guys that can sing either moderately well, but not excel at either one. But I do enjoy the camaraderie and the moment to sing with a group of folks who all enjoy the music and each other. The group assembles a few at a time and it seems there is a certain amount of visiting that goes on while the mikes are tested and sound is mixed, etc. However, I like to sing. So this past Sunday I insisted we all warm up on a few of my favorites ( I sang tenor, so I pushed for a couple of songs that had really fun tenor parts) The song that jumped to my mind was a simple little song, with simple words, and a really fun tenor line.
Nothing can wash away my sin.
Nothing can wash away my sin.
Nothing can wash away my sin.
Nothing..nothing...nothing but the blood of Jesus.
The verses shift to:
Nothing can bring me peace with God.
and so on.
For the last two days I have reflected on the significance of my disciplines that do not spend a lot of time surrounding the reality of the words in the song. By the way, I believe all the words of this simple little song, but somewhere along the line I have come to grips with the fact that "sin management" is not the intent of the mission. Sin management requires that we look back to a time when sin governed all that I did and said. It no longer has that kind of sway over my life. Of course I still sin, of course I still seek to make my own way, of course I forge ahead without the guidance and will of the Creator. But sin no longer has the ability to undermine my hard fought faith. My sin disappoints me, it slows me down, it defeats me with regularity, but it does not cause me to dwell on its' significance. It has been defeated, washed away as the song says by an event 2000 yeas ago. Why dwell on it? Sin no longer holds my fascination. The focus now is on relationship.
When I lived on the farm years ago. We had to move irrigation pipe, marching from one side of the pasture to the other in 40' increments. On the numerous occasions I had to handle this chore alone, I had to line up the pipe in 20 or 30 separate segments. Which meant unhooking from the pipe ahead and carrying this 30' piece of pipe across 40' and re-hooking to the one ahead of it in line. If I looked back at the previous pipe just set in position and determine if the entire line was straight, I would end up with a crooked mess that would make a snake envious. But if I picked a point at the end of the pasture that was roughly 40' from the end pipe, the line was straight and true. I had to line it up with where I was going, not where I had been.
When we continue to dwell on the sins of the past we end up wandering all around in our lives and never really putting down a pipeline that is straight and true. I am not sure why so many preachers focus on this single topic, except that it surfaces guilt and guilt surfaces response. But it inhibits true spiritual growth.
The focus, the aim of the pipeline is relationship. When we look to simply forge the most direct line to Jesus or the Creator, or whatever term you find comfortable, we focus forward. We look to the future of what this relationship can and should look like. We become free to live a life of hope and purpose and mission. This future then becomes the "peace with God" this simple little song sings about.
Godspeed, not sure why this has been on my mind, but there it is.
Don
