A deviation you say, what does that have to do with the price of eggs? Well, really nothing, but the other day my wife was telling me that at her place of employment which is in the pharmaceutical field a deviation in your work is a real big deal. Merriam Websters gives this definition for deviation: "an action, behavior, or condition that is different from what is usual or expected;" The Free Dictionary gives us this definition: "The act of deviating or turning aside, an abnormality; a departure."
OK, where are you going with this? It got me thinking about the Christian life, about my life, about how we humans live. Now you might be saying, man, this guy thinks too much! Hold on, let me make my point, and I promise it won't be long or philosophical.
In a very real sense before we came to Christ and before we were reconciled to God; when we were dead in our trespasses and sins our whole existence was a deviation. We were as sheep going astray (Isa. 53:6). We were constantly sinning which is the Greek word hamartia, and is rooted in the notion of missing the mark (Rom.3:23).
God is a God of justice, perfection, and holiness. God will accept nothing other than perfection and a complete adherence to his laws and His statutes without one deviation.
I asked my wife what happens when you get a deviation and she told me that you need to do a corrective action. A corrective action is laying out the steps as to how the deviation occurred and the steps taken so that the deviation will not be repeated again in the future.
As we look at our lives and see that we're really one big deviation, we are filled with praise that God the Father of all mercy and grace laid out a corrective action in order to deal with our messed-up lives. Now keep in mind our disobedience to God can't be remedied by our drawing up our own corrective action: no penance, no church attendance, no sacraments will do, no, only God's provision will cover the enormity of our missing the mark.
God's corrective action is found in Isaiah 53:6
All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God's paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all.
Notice the last clause of this verse, The LORD laid on Him the deviations (sins) of us all.
Oh what a savior, oh what a God who takes our sins, our missing the mark, our deviations and places them on His Son. The forgiven person is cleared of all offenses against a holy God, by what God has done in providing His corrective action plan…. The death, burial, and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ, the real corrective action plan for man's sin.
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