One of my favorite childhood authors was Sam Campbell. He lived in the forest and wrote seventeen wonderful books about the animals that surrounded his home. I would read about his raccoons, porcupines and skunks and wish someday I could live in such a place. There was Inky, Salt and Pepper and many other furry characters. Now decades later we have a raccoon that lives in a really big cherry tree outside our back window. I have named him Itchy because the poor thing is almost constantly scratching and rubbing himself on a branch. He must be hosting a huge colony of fleas and ticks.
If there is such a thing as big sins and little sins, the little sins have to be like fleas. They are constantly with us, irritating not only ourselves but those about us. Bragging (one of mine), narcissism, overeating, jealousy and nit-picking others faults are just a small sample. They aren’t big enough to totally spoil one’s life, but real enough to steal away the quality of life.
They remind us of the woman who washed Jesus feet and dried them with her hair. In describing her Jesus said, “I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much.” She had sins like a bad case of fleas. But she had something else that was so much better. She loved much. If Jesus were speaking of us, He could say our sins are many and that they are forgiven. But could He also say that we loved much. I wish. What a great thing to say about someone. Put your name in the following sentence. “……. has many sins. But she/he loves much.”
Written by Roger Bothwell on August 25, 2017
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