If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

Do you remember the tragic story of Humpty Dumpty?

You know, the one who sat on the wall and had a great fall. If you do, you probably also recall that all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again. Yes, it was a terrible tale, but it was also a fictional tale.

Not so the disaster which recently happened to one of the most famous pieces of art in the world. By that I mean the 24-pound, gold mask of King Tut. Since its discovery by Howard Carter in 1922, Tut's death mask has become a familiar symbol of Egypt's glorious past. The priceless artifact has a permanent spot of honor and protection at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Apparently, during a recent cleaning last October, someone messed up and broke Tut's beard off the rest of the mask. The obvious disaster called for some corrective help. But who to call? Well, the people responsible for the accident decided not to call all the king's horses and all the king's men. That's understandable. But they also decided not to call in a team of experts to properly repair the mask.

What the lady in charge did do was call in her husband.

The husband grabbed a big tube of epoxy, slathered the beard and mask with gobs of glue and stuck them together. He used so much epoxy it came bubbling out all over the place. According to some who have seen the mask, he made it worse off than it had been.

As near as I can tell, that pretty much describes how things go when humans try to take care of their own sin. They can try to cover their sin; they can try to fix it; they can try to balance out the scales of justice; they can try to punish themselves and appease the Lord, who is angry for their transgressions.

Still, no matter how hard we try to fix the damage done by our sin, we fail, big time.

This explains why we need the Savior. Only the Savior has the ability, the qualifications, the attributes necessary to make things right. Through His sacrificial life, His unjust death, and His glorious resurrection, Jesus has paid the price for our sin and set into motion the process by which the Holy Spirit can call us to faith and salvation.

It is the process by which we are forgiven or, if you prefer, put back together again.

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, I confess my many transgressions and rejoice that in Jesus they are forgiven and I am restored to the family of faith. In Jesus I give thanks. Amen.

In Christ I remain His servant and yours,

Today's Bible Readings: Genesis 43-45    Matthew 22:23-46

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