Thought of the Week: THOUGHT ON HOTDOGS, BELLYACHES AND SIN
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:8-9)
Growing up as a Methodist preacher’s kid, I moved around quite a bit. In fact, I attended 5 elementary schools, 2 middles schools, and 2 high schools. In spite of all that moving, there was one constant. My grandparents home south of Cleveland was our “homebase” of sorts. They had quite a bit of land, and I spent lots of time in the woods around their house. It’s where I learned to fish, hunt, and swim, and though I didn’t live there, in many ways it served as my childhood home.
One summer, I guess I was about 4 since they had just finished building their new house, I was staying with my grandparents, and I was hungry. So, when Mimmie said I could have some wieners to snack, I sat down on the kitchen floor next to the refrigerator and helped myself. They were probably my favorite food at the time, and I imagine you can see the problem already. I ate wiener after wiener after wiener, straight from the package, until I had polished off two packages! Oh! The belly ache! I was miserable, and let’s just say I became very familiar with the new bathrooms...
Something else happened that day. I was nineteen before I could eat another hotdog without getting sick! Even though I had loved them when I was small, I loathed them for years after that. I couldn’t enjoy the things I had loved because they made me sick for years. Why? Because I had abused the gift my grandmother had given me. Out of my own selfishness, I had misused a gift, and that resulted in paying a price for years after that day.
You know, that is how sin works. One definition of sin is, “The misuse of a gift given by God.” The gift in and of itself is not bad, but when we misuse the gifts God has given us, we sin. That abuse or misuse usually bears its own penalty – like a bellyache from eating too many hotdogs. So often, though, the results are much longer lasting. Whether we call them consequences or something else, the results of our sin show us why we all need grace.
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