I share a weekly thought with the members of my American Legion post fairly regularly, and when I do, I try to associate it with a bit of history that is related to some military action or another, to give it context. When reviewing the week’s events for something to snag a thought, I came across something that I thought I’d share here as well…
During this week in 1574, a great number of Jews were expelled from Tyrnau, Hungary.
If this poor treatment sounds similar to what happened in World War 2, one also needs to remember that in 1349, they were expelled from Hungary for a supposed cause of “Black Death.” A quick search will undoubtedly find other examples as well.
It goes to show you that the saying is true: There’s nothing new under the Sun.
Did you know that that saying comes from a line of a sermon given almost 3000 years ago? In Ecclesiastes :9, we read “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”
The point being made isn’t about the Jews; it is about us. Ever feel like you’re just too bad a person to be forgiven for what you did? The author of Ecclesiastes is assuring us that no matter how bad you think you are, someone has already been that bad – and been forgiven – before.
Its pretty awesome to know that no matter how bad we think we are, we are just one among many. We are all broken, and we have all done something to deserve Judgement from On High. To God, no sin is any worse than any other sin, and in the middle of our nastiness, He still loves us enough to make a way fro us to be absolved of what keeps us from Him.
I don’t know about you, but that gives me a pick-me-up every time I remember it.
Hope you have a blessed week,
Jim
Chaplain Jim
Raging River Community Church 