In the spring of 1990, I had come to a crossroads.
Falsely accused and undone, I had become obsessed with proving my innocence. On a spring afternoon, after an unsuccessful meeting with a district attorney about a bogus “dine and dash” charge, I was focused on a confrontation with my accusers at their place of business.
I was angry and bitter and solely focused on Proving My Innocence.
Something stopped me that day and instead of a confrontation that surely would have landed me in more trouble than I was already in, I ended up going up to Flagstaff Mountain to look over Boulder and reflect on where I was.
I can remember that after coming back to my house, my friend who was in the same situation told me:
“Look, my friends know I didn’t do it. My family knows I didn’t do it. And God knows that I didn’t do it. After that, I don’t care.”
A pretty good perspective.
And, to be fair, what God knows is the ONLY perspective.
It is … the only thing that matters.
And the reality for each of us is this:
We can try with all that we are but we will never be able to: Prove Our Innocence.
I heard a pastor once say that we:
- Judge others by their ACTIONS. (Justice)
- Judge ourselves by our INTENTIONS. (Mercy)
We don’t care what the other’s motives are if they have hurt us. But when we mess up, we want others to know that we did not mean to do it.
This is so true of me. I want to have a different rule applied to me while applying a harsh standard to someone else.
It is the ultimate HYPOCRISY.
And thinking about this—I can not deny that many times my motives are not right either.
If I were put on trial for being guilty by the standards of God—I AM GUILTY.
God knew this about all of us. Jesus knew this about all of us. And that is why we are so desperately in need of the gospel that Jesus offers. It is … Our ONLY Hope.
When Nicodemus met Jesus at night He knew this. He knew that Jesus was right but wasn’t quite sure how to go about “changing teams”. And when Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be “born again” Nicodemus was confused, but enlightened. He knew that at his core, he was guilty and that he must have a spiritual miracle to make it right.
Are you born again? Because Jesus offer to Nicodemus is the same offer that He is giving to you. And this is why the greatest verse in the Bible (besides all of the other ones) is John 3:16.
John 3 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
God gives us many options. He offers chance after chance. He even meets people at night, as He did with Nicodemus, so that they can fully know their options without the pressure of others.
But there is no riding the fence. There is no “Proving Our Innocence”. We are guilty as charged and beyond the hope of man.
But God SO LOVED …
We are blessed to be able to surrender.
Follow Jesus.
In The Name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Coach J
2 MINUTE WARNING 
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