People never forget and rarely forgive.

Acts 25

 ⁶ After spending eight or ten days with them, Festus went down to Caesarea. The next day he convened the court and ordered that Paul be brought before him. ⁷ When Paul came in, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him. They brought many serious charges against him, but they could not prove them.

 ⁸ Then Paul made his defense: “I have done nothing wrong against the Jewish law or against the temple or against Caesar.”

Paul was ruthlessly attacked by the Jewish leaders. It sure sounds alot like politics in America. When someone in America decides to run for major political office, they better be ready for the storm. Several great candidates including our own Governor Mitch Daniels have decided to forgo the strain because of their families.  I can understand that. No one is perfect, we all have "skeletons in our closet." It would be great if we could honestly air those and move forward. But, that just can't happen, especially in politics. It should but it can't. You can't explain your life of sin before Christ. It takes too much time and our society is too interested in 10 second sound bites. 

Even if you're not guilty, no one wants to know about it. In our country we take pride in innocent until proven guilty. That certainly holds true in criminal trials. But, in every day life, it's far from true. In politics, it's guilty until proven innocent. You are guilty on the front page and you're cleared on the back page.

It's time our country has compassion for people who genuinely make mistakes and are sorry for those errors in judgment. We need to be able to forgive and move on. Even more so are those who are ASSUMED to be guilty and are not. Those who accuse are not held to the same scrutiny as those accused. We need to leave room for the sinner in all of us. I am not like Paul, I have made mistakes in my life. Mistakes I'm not proud of. Yet, they are buried in my past. I don't want or need to bring them up. God has forgiven me and he has forgotten. People never forget and rarely forgive. Paul didn't even need to hide his sin, but it didn't free him from the attacks. 

This world is ruthless. We can only survive with the power of a Savior who is full of grace and love. God forgives and forgets. He is there for us, through guilt and innocence.

Innocence: Teach your Children Well!

Romans 16

 ¹⁷ I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. ¹⁸ For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people. ¹⁹ Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I rejoice because of you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.

One of my grand daughters is spending the weekend with us. I just love having her here. I always enjoy having them visit and stay with us. After living for 51 years and witnessing the good and the bad in life, it is fun being able to spend time with someone who has not been tainted by the world. I love the innocence of children. As parents, as grandparents, as educators, one of greatest callings is to preserve that innocence as long as we can. We are to protect them from evil. We want them to know as much good as we possibly can. We want them to know of the good in this world, not the evil. 

God wants us to be wise of the good around us. God wants us to know of the good within us. God wants us to be innocent of evil. As Christians, we have a choice to dwell on all that is wrong with the world, our world, or we can dwell on the goodness. It seems that evil in this world is growing and it is easy to get wrapped up in it. The times can seem to be hopeless. But, we know that our Good and Holy God is in control and there is hope in him. God is Great. He wants us to be innocent as children, as grandchildren.

Thank You Lord for your love. Thank you for your hope. Protect us from evil. Protect the innocence we have remaining in our lives. Amen!