ELDER: Don’t keep digging a deeper hole for yourself

One day I was trying to get rid of a reminder message that kept popping up on our video projector at the church. Somehow I managed to push a wrong button, suddenly switching the words on the main menu from English to some other language that I couldn’t read. I panicked, pushed more buttons, only to change other settings, and see the screen get modified further and further from its original position. The more I tried, the more I kept digging myself into a deeper and deeper hole.

If we are not careful, we can do something similar when it comes to spiritual matters and seeking a remedy for that sense that our hearts are not right with our Creator. We can try to do good things in an effort to make up for our wrong actions of the past. We can try to find our own way out of our sin and selfish behaviors. We may try to excuse ourselves or seek to get society to tell us that what we are doing is acceptable. However, the more we attempt to find our way out of sin and into the favor of God by our own means, the further we sink into a pit of our own making.