#DailyDevotion Are You Reminded Of Sins Or Forgiveness When You See A Pastor?

1 Kings 17:17-24 ¹⁷Later the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, got sick. He got so very sick that finally there was no breath left in him. ¹⁸“Leave me alone, man of God,” she told Elijah. “Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my boy?”

So you might remember the pagan widow whose heart the LORD opened to receive Elijah during the famine while there was no rain in the land. You might remember she had a son. Well he gets so sick that there was no breath left in him. Of course this brings great distress to the woman. So much so she tells Elijah, “Leave me alone, man of God. Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my boy?”

Well, it’s good I guess she recognizes Elijah is a man of God, someone who speaks for him. But her question is something else. “Did you come to remind me on my sin and kill my boy?” Why would would she asks such a thing? I know that pastors are often very lonely people, not because their personalities but their presence reminds people of their sins and rather than see him as a means of grace to dispose and absolve them of their sins, they’d rather just not deal with it. I can’t tell you the times someone may use vulgar language around me, see me, and apologize. I usually just remind them my Boss is with them always. I’m nothing. Yet St. Paul says in 2 Cor. 2, “¹⁵Yes, we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are saved and among those who perish — ¹⁶to some an aroma of death that kills, to others an aroma of life that gives life.”

But there is a great and unpleasant truth expressed by the widow. It goes back to the beginning of time. In Gen. 2 it is written, “The day you eat from it you will certainly die.” Indeed, the day they ate the fruit they were dead in their trespasses and sins. All their children born after them were dead spiritually. Eventually sin catches up with the body and the body dies also. In Ezekiel 18 it is written, “²⁰The one who sins must die.” In Romans 6 Paul writes, “ ²³The wages paid by sin is death…” The woman knows sin and death are tied together. Her sins and sinfulness will bring her to death one day. Her sons own sinfulness and sins will bring him to death one day. Your sinfulness and sins will bring you to death one day also. It not as though any particular sins bring on any particular death or disease, though some sins may make you more prone to certain types. But what does it matter, death and dead are still death and dead. How can we escape it?

Is there any cure for sin and death? Indeed there is. Jesus tells us in John 11, ²⁵“I am the Resurrection and the Life. “Anyone who believes in Me will live even if he dies. ²⁶Yes, anyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.” The above Romans quote continues, “but the gift given freely by God in Christ Jesus our Lord is everlasting life.” So in Romans 1 Paul says, “The righteous will live by faith.” We are righteous if we believe Jesus’ promise to give us life. All who put their trust in Jesus for salvation have passed from death to life having received the gift of eternal life in themselves. If when we are sick we feel guilty of some past sin, confess your sin to your pastor, hear Christ’s absolution from his mouth and partake of the medicine of immortality from the altar, Christ’s body and blood, being assured by such things God the Father is at peace with you and has not withdrawn from you the gift of eternal life.

Heavenly Father, when we or loved ones are sick and we feel guilty, send us your man who may hear our confession, bestow upon us your absolution and feed us Christ from the altar of his cross so we may live with you in peace. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.