Forwards and Backwards

Have you heard of a palindrome? That’s a word or phrase or numbers that read the same forwards and backwards. In honor of father’s day, DAD tops our palindrome list this week. Here is a whole sentence palindrome: We panic in a pew. In honesty, confession might make us panic in a pew. I sometimes forget, even at my age, that no matter how hard I try, I am not perfect. I want to be a palindrome – the same godly woman when I’m moving forward as when life confuses me and sends me backward. I want to be a witness of Christ Jesus when people read my life forward and backward. I guess that is another reason I hate sin so much, I hate to sin so much, because it makes me feel and look like someone I don’t want to be. That is a human conundrum we all face. 

Creeping, insidious sin and sudden bursts of sin alike can make us feel we are not who God intends us to be: true and transparent any way you look at us. How quickly sin and regret throw us into the dark where our untrustworthy feelings can take hold. To examine our feelings against the truth of God’s Word, we can practice 2 Corinthians 10:5 every day: Take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. In His light and through obedience, we cry in Jesus’ powerful name, “Oh devil, you can’t have that dark hold on me!” Jesus forgives us when we repent. Thank You, Father, Son and Holy Spirit! Freedom in Christ makes us readable forward and backward as the same person. We are forgiven sinners striving to walk the road of righteousness, hand-in-hand with the only One who can allow us on that blessed road. 

We are reminded in Titus 3, “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” Our merciful God is the ultimate source of love and forgiveness and joy. He is with us always. Even if we panic in a pew, we are victorious in Christ. We can claim in Jesus’ name this palindrome: No devil lived on. Amen! ~Tracy