Effective - or ineffective?!

For some months, I have wondered if 2020 would be known as "The Year of the Mask"! I am now concerned that the same title may be applicable to 2021.

The wearing of masks has been obligatory in most countries, whether everywhere apart from inside one's own home (e.g. in Spain, when we were there last year), or in designated areas - shops etc. However, there are masks - and there are masks!

Here are two very different 'masks'.  This first one is the type of mask that the majority of the public is using. Indeed, when I had occasion to visit the main hospital in Bergerac, just last week, I was issued with one of these masks. The mask that I was using - supplied, I would point out, by my local Mairie - was deemed to be unsuitable (although it is actually a slightly 'heavier' mask!).

The second mask is being worn by the young cousin of a dear friend of mine. This cousin is a doctor in a Covid-19 Intensive Care Unit in a hospital in London. I doubt that anyone will have any difficulty in spotting the differences between the two masks!

It would be my personal opinion that this mask - that is, of course, much more than a simple mask - is effective. The one above, in my opinion - and that of many others - is not any better, when it comes to a virus, than a handkerchief tied around one's face in the way that, in my childhood, my friends and I would have done when we were playing cowboys and bandits!

This difference got me thinking! 

Covid-19 has caused much disruption around the world. Yet it is not the worst thing to afflict humanity. That 'accolade' goes, I would claim, to sin. But what is sin? Well, the Westminster Shorter Catechism, on which I was brought up, asks that very question (Q.14). The answer provided is: "Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God." Now that's pretty simple and straightforward, but permit me to 'unpack' it just a little. It is saying that if we do not match up to the standards set by Almighty God, or if we disobey His laws in any way, then we are guilty of sin.

Those laws are, of course, summed up in The Ten Words (Ten Commandments) found in Exodus 20:2-17. However, the Lord Jesus took them to a higher plane when He pointed out that it is not just an action that is sin, but also the very thought that led to that action. 

Words such as "You have heard that it was said to the men of old, 'You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be liable to the hell of fire." (Matt 5:21-22), and words such as "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Matt 5:27-28), make me quickly realise that I am a serial murderer, and a serial adulterer! The thought may not be as bad as the deed - but it is every bit as much a sin!

Sin, of course, has created a mighty gulf, or chasm, between us and Father God. When we are aware of this, we may endeavour to bridge that chasm in different ways. We may think that good works; charitable giving; kindness; religious activity; and the like will get us across. However, that is simply not the case. Here is a graphic that makes the point.

These endeavours are like the first mask - they are ineffective.

Thankfully, Father God did not leave us without a remedy. In what is probably the best-known verse in the whole of the Bible (plus the next one), we are told that "... God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him." (John 3:16-17). Yes, the Lord Jesus came to pay the penalty for your sin, and for mine. 

Indeed, Paul reminds us that "For our sake He [the Father] made Him [the Son] to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in Him [the Son] we might become the righteousness of God." (II Cor 5:21).  Yes, if we come to Jesus, in repentance and faith, acknowledging our sins, and our sinfulness, and accepting the forgiveness that is offered through Him, then we may cross the chasm into a new and living relationship with our Creator. Jesus' sacrifice, on our behalf, is effective. Of course, like the effective mask, it is only so when we "take advantage" of it! The doctor's mask is totally useless if he leaves it on a shelf!

In many cultures, New Year is, traditionally, a time of 'new beginnings'. May I encourage you, if you have not done so already, to make this New Year a time of new beginning with Father God. Not just "resolutions", but a new life, in Jesus. It won't make life any easier - indeed, the opposite may be the case! - but it will be a more satisfying life; and a life that will never end!