There’s a bit of bother going on in the football world about racist comments made by players. In the media attention mention was made of a precedent of a player being charged with a racist statement.
That case was interesting in that the player charged admitted it and made a public apology for his words including a ‘self-imposed’ fine of two weeks wages. The public apology was interesting, there was no sense of justifying his deeds, he took responsibility for them and said he’d given the apologies to the other player concerned, he appreciated that he let himself and his team mates and his club and the fans down with his behaviour.
The element of his public announcement that made me think, though, and provoked this blog entry was when he stated quite clearly that he could assure everyone that he would never conduct himself in such a fashion ever again.
I am in no way questioning his integrity. It’s just an interesting assurance to make. Indeed it’s an assurance quite a number of us make when we apologise for hurt caused or when a mistake has been made. Going further on the other side of things people do question future conduct – how can we be sure it won’t happen again.
Understandable concerns that lead to understandable assurances. Yet, just hold the phone for one minute.
When God deals with us, is there a clause in the contract that says when we repent that we state that we will never fall again? Does He expect us never to sin in the same way ever again? Really?
Sure the process of repentance acknowledges the wrong and perhaps identifies the reason for the wrong to be able to address underlying factors to provoke such actions. Perhaps wisdom suggests we work on those areas and factors to help ensure that we reduce the likelihood of sinning in such a way. But to give such assurances that it will not happen again is somewhat presumptuous, with the greatest intention in the world.
Living by the grace of God and endeavouring to be lead by His Spirit in everyday decision making has to also acknowledge that we are prone to wonder, and liable to sin at times – why else do we ask for forgiveness? Also some of our weaknesses are persistent and deep-rooted and cannot be covered with brave statements of mind-over-matter that says we will never do that again. We can certainly hope to God we don’t do it again, we can also look for the ongoing support of others, but we really have to be careful with the statements we make. It’s one thing to make bold faith statements, it’s another thing to set up the noose on which you’ll hang yourself.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
dmcd
Life With CD 