Fair Lord, I pray to you/concerning my excesses and deficiencies:/grant me forgiveness here/for my misdeeds, my ignorance.

  - Anonymous, Saltair na Rann (Irish, 9th-10th century)

Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me.

  - Psalm 19.13

What are "presumptuous sins"? Some sins we commit and we aren't even aware of them. In fact, we may never become aware of them, at least, not until they are all revealed on the last day. But they're there, and we need to seek forgiveness for our "hidden faults" (v. 12).

Other sins we commit but they're so small (as we see them) and they don't really affect anyone else, so they're not that big a deal. Hey, we're sinners, and God knows it. He knows we can't help ourselves, and, after all, these are just small stuff.

Now we're beginning to sin presumptuously. We presume that what seems small to us seems small to God also. Wrong. And we presume that we can keep on sinning in small ways and God will always be there to smile and forgive us, without our having to worry about, you know, repentance.

Wrong again.

We also sin presumptuously when we refuse to learn what the Bible teaches about sin - as, for example, when we fail to read, study, and meditate in the Law of God, as all who desire to be righteous should do (Ps. 1). We think, "If I don't know what sin is, then I can't be held accountable for sinning when I sin."

Wrong one more time.

Our poet knows that ignorance - especially willful ignorance - is right up there with misdeeds needing forgiveness from God. We will never make progress in holiness until we make progress in recognizing and resisting sin. And we presume on the goodness of the Lord when we refuse to take seriously the call to "bring holiness to completion in the fear of God" (2 Cor. 7.1).

You and I will sin today. And we'll need to seek forgiveness, even if we aren't aware of our sins. But let's see if we can cut back on sinning presumptuously, shall we? If we do, we might begin to see some real progress in our being transformed into the image of Jesus Christ.

Today at The Fellowship of Ailbe

Please visit our website, www.ailbe.org, for helpful insights on current issues, the Kingdom of God, praying the psalms, and the worldview of God's Law. And pass this newsletter on to some friends, encouraging them to sign up for their own copy, three days a week.

T. M. Moore, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.