Yesterday I was reminded of the story about a little boy and his slingshot. He had spent the entire morning practicing with his slingshot but was frustrated because he could never hit the target. As he was heading back to the house he saw his grandmother's favorite duck and decided to take a shot - unfortunately for the little boy he was right on target. Not only did he hit the duck...he killed him. Scared to tell his grandmother he decided to keep the murder a secret hoping she would never find out what he had done.
However, there was a witness to the whole event - his sister. She told the little boy that she would keep it a secret if he would do whatever she asked. The little boy ended up doing dishes when he could have been playing, working on the farm when he could have been fishing, eventually becoming a slave to the little girl simply because he didn't want his grandmother to find out the truth. Finally, he had enough. The little boy went to his grandmother and told her the truth. Grandma said, "Honey, I forgive you. I knew all along that you had killed my duck." The little boy said, "Why didn't you say anything?" She replied, "I was waiting for you to come and tell me the truth and I was wondering how long you were going to let your sister make you a slave because of what you had done."
Doesn't that sound too much like us? Maybe there is something in our past that we have not dealt with or maybe we struggle with a decision that we have made recently in giving in to our flesh. How long are we going to allow ourselves to be slaves to sin? How long are we going to allow a mistake in our lives to rule over us? God is waiting to forgive us if we will but come to Him.
As I thought about this struggle in our lives I was reminded of Paul's words in Romans 6 teaching us not to present ourselves as instruments of unrighteousness. You see, that's what we do when we are not willing to come clean before God. Verse 14 tells us, "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace." Oh, if only the little boy in the story knew that he was under grace. Too often we are like this little boy. We think that we are under God's law because of the sin we have committed. But if we are believers in Jesus Christ we are under His grace which means that we can approach God to seek His forgiveness. He is simply waiting for us to stop being slaves to our problems and become servants of His goodness.
What does all of this have to do with socks? Our church just received an email from a pastor in Ukraine. This is a church that we have worked with in the past and just recently sent some care packages for encouragement. Mixed in with all the items were new white socks. The pastor told us that he found that gift to be an interesting one because they don't normally wear white socks. The following Sunday he preached a message to his people about white socks. Basically, what he told them was that they normally wear black socks because you can wear them over and over again because they don't show stains. White socks present a problem because they show dirt. The goal isn't necessarily to be clean - the goal is to not look dirty.
I wonder how many believers are living with a black sock mentality? It's not so much about being clean but looking clean. As long as our sin doesn't stain us to the point that we can't be out in public we never change. All the while we have become slaves to unrighteousness. Dear friends, choose to live in the bright whiteness of Christ's forgiveness. Be willing to own up to your shortcomings, faults, and sins so that God can clean you up. Don't allow yourselves to become subject to the law again - live in GRACE.
As I close out this message this morning I want to thank you all for reading the various entries. Your encouragement has been remarkable. This very well could be my last blog for a few days since I am in the process of packing up my computer and my home for a move. Also, I will be leaving Saturday with a group for a mission trip to Alaska. I couldn't think of a better message to share with you than this. Don't be like the black socks. Instead, live like white socks with an attitude that accepts the stains but is willing to be made clean through the blood of Christ. We are no longer slaves to sin - NO - we should be slaves of righteousness.
May God Bless You All.
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