Did He or Didn’t He?

Did He or Didn’t He?

by Andy Bratton, Senior Minister

Last week the big story was about Judge Kavanaugh and whether or not he would be put before the Senate to be confirmed as our next Supreme Court Justice.  As you probably know the big question was whether or not an accuser’s story about him sexually assaulting her was true or not. I just spent several minutes on Facebook (I admit it) and saw several people make comments about the Judge and whether or not he should or should not be confirmed.  And I read posts for both sides that friends posted. In other words, I have friends on both sides of “the aisle.”I had one friend that posted an article that Bob Russell (A big deal in our brotherhood of churches) posted about the undiscussed topic in the room, underaged drinking and what drinking can do to you and how it can impair judgment. Click here for the link to that article.  It is worth the read.

The fact is that I wasn’t at the party in question to be able to say whether the doctor or the judge are telling the truth.  I didn’t know either of them to be able to be a character witness to their behavior as young people. And while I don’t like what appears to be happening in Washington, D.C. over this whole thing or other decisions they are supposed to be making, the fact is that I have never lived a day in their shoes to know what the job of a United States Senator is like.

This is, however, what I took away from the hearing.  Imagine that was me in that room being questioned about my sins.  What if a group of people were permitted to drill me with questions about my past?  How would I hold up? I can tell you that if my sins were put out in front of the whole world to judge me I would be sweating bullets and flush red as the accusations were read.

Thankfully, in my trial, Jesus would walk in just as my sentence was about to be passed down for my guilty verdict and say, “I’ll pay the price for his sins.”  He would do that because I have confessed that I am a sinner and have committed sins against others and Him. He would do that because I repented and turned from those sins and from being lord of my life and surrendering to Jesus as Lord.  And He would do that because I united with Him in a death like his through the watery grave of baptism, raised to walk in a new life.

I don’t know if Judge Kavanaugh did what he is accused of.  I don’t know if Dr. Ford remembers correctly who did this awful thing to her that night.  And I can’t pretend to know what she or he has had to live with over the years that have passed since that time or even since last week.  But I do know that I am guilty of having sinned over the course of my life. And I know my penalty was paid on the cross so that when questioned I can clearly say, “yes, I have sinned in my past.  But, thanks be to God, my Heavenly Father, who has taken away my sin and has set me free.”

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