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| Capitol Building, Washington - Taken from www.senate.gov |
These are the words of Todd Akin. He is a man running for office in the American Senate. During a day of campaigning, he made a significant mistake when asked about his views on the topic of abortion. What he said has brought condemnation from across the divide of American politics, from President Obama’s party to his fellow Republicans, including the presidential hopeful, Mitt Romney. Mr Akin made a serious error. Politics is such that errors of this nature are soon picked up and exploited by opponents.
I thought it strange that mistakes in politics can become so important, either to the candidate or their opponents. In other circumstances, would there be such a public furore. Probably not! It seems the public nature of the office that Mr Akin seeks means that anything he does, or says, will be brought into the spotlight. What of our life? Mr Akin’s one ‘simple’ mistake may well cost him his place in the Senate. Do we attach the same importance to the mistakes we make? The Bible calls our mistakes ‘sin’ – we miss the mark; we fail to reach the required standard! Just one mistake, or sin, will keep us out of God’s heaven. Sin is that important – it is crucial that we get a right view of sin!
Mr Akin has publicly apologised for his mistake. He is seeking forgiveness. Whether that will restore his political fortunes remains to be seen. Whether some people will forgive his mistake is also difficult to judge. One thing that we can be sure of is that we have a merciful, and gracious, God who is willing to forgive and to remove the stain and guilt of our mistakes (sins). How? Because the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son, died upon the cross of Calvary outside of Jerusalem some 2000 years ago! God punished His Son for my sin. He bore the penalty that should have been mine. If I admit my sin, and believe on the Lord Jesus, accepting Him as my Saviour, I can know forgiveness. I can be brought back into relationship with God. This doesn’t get me a place in American politics. It gets me a place in heaven – that’s far better!
