S.A. - Sinners Anonymous

10While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. Matthew 9:10

Hi. My name is Will and I am a sinner.

I have been sinning since I was a little child. I don't want to sin - it just happens. When the time comes and I know I'm supposed to do something one way, somehow I do it the wrong way. I remember as a young boy being annoyed that my Mom always picked my Dad's birthday present for me. So, one year, I asked for some money so I could buy my own birthday gift for my Dad. I went to the store looking for a gift for my Dad and instead I bought a Hot Wheel - knowing full well that my Dad would not keep the Hot Wheel but give it to me instead. I knew it was wrong. I felt really bad about it. But I did it anyway. I can not help it.

I have been trying to follow the 12 Step Program for Sinners. I think I am on number four so far - maybe this counts for number five?

1. I admit I am powerless over my sinful nature — that my sinful life has become unmanageable.
2. I have come to believe that a Power greater than myself can restore me to purity.
3. I have made a decision to turn my will and my life over to the care of God as I understand Him.
4. I have made a searching and fearless moral inventory of myself.
5. I have admitted to God, to myself, and to another human being the exact nature of my wrongs.
6. I am entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. I will humbly ask Him to remove my shortcomings.
8. I will make a list of all persons I have harmed, and become willing to make amends to them all.
9. I will make direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. I will continue to take personal inventory and when I am wrong promptly admit it.
11. I will seek through prayer and meditation to improve my conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for me and the power to carry that out.
12. I will have had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, and will try to carry this message to other sinners, and to practice these principles in all my affairs.

This is a tough list. I am not sure I will be up to finishing all 12 steps. But with God's help I will try.

The question is, am I the only one who sees the irony of the Matthew passage above? It is often said that the Pharisees and others were upset with Jesus for speaking with and associating with sinners. But the reality of the Bible is that we are all sinners - every single one of us. Therefore, anytime Jesus is talking to any of us, he is speaking with and associating with sinners - as do we all. We are all trying to remove ourselves from sinful people, to be free of guilt by association, but there is no humanly way possible for us to do that. We are all in the same boat and we are all sinking together. Only Jesus can calm the storm.

Once again, my name is Will. And I am a sinner.