Our Daily Bread May 16
Guilt and Forgiveness / By: Sheridan Voysey They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts.
Romans 2:15
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Romans 2:12–16 (NIV):
12 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. 14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) 16 This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.
In his book Human Universals, anthropologist Donald Brown lists more than four hundred behaviors that he considers common across humanity. He includes such things as toys, jokes, dances, and proverbs, wariness of snakes, and tying things with string! Likewise, he believes all cultures have concepts of right and wrong, where generosity is praised, promises are valued, and things like meanness and murder understood to be wrong. We all have a sense of conscience, wherever we’re from.
The apostle Paul made a similar point many centuries ago. While God gave the Jewish people the Ten Commandments to clarify right from wrong, Paul noted that since gentiles could do right by obeying their conscience, God’s laws were evidently written on their hearts (Romans 2:14–15). But that didn’t mean people always did what was right. The gentiles rebelled against their conscience (1:32), the Jews broke the Law (2:17–24), leaving both guilty. But through faith in Jesus, God removes the death penalty from all our rule-breaking (3:23–26; 6:23). Since God created all humans with a sense of right and wrong, each of us will likely feel some guilt over a bad thing we’ve done or a good thing we failed to do. When we confess those sins, God wipes away the guilt like a whiteboard wiped clean. All we have to do is ask Him—whoever we are, wherever we’re from.
Today’s Hymns
Amazing Love
Father I have Sinned
Scripture to Respond
Romans 3:23-24
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
1 John 1:8-9
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Reflection:
Have you ever felt deeply guilty over a bad thing you’ve done, a mistake you’ve committed repeatedly or a good thing you failed to do, to such an extent that you cannot forgive yourself, or even think that God will not forgive you, either? Even if we sin frequently, when we confess those sins and repent sincerely, God will certainly wipe away the guilt like a whiteboard wiped clean. If you wholeheartedly trust in Him, He will let you experience the peace of forgiveness.
Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, I always go back on my promises and sin against you. Please forgive me and help me hold fast to your promises so that I will experience the peace of forgiveness from you.
Wong Wai Tung
(Chief executive officer of The Great Wall Education Foundation) &
Sam Chow
(Administrative officer of The Great Wall Education Foundation)
eflection and Prayer translated by Jenny Hung
