The Scape Goat

There are times when an individual may feel that their actions are of such a heinous nature that they do not want to own up. Forgiveness and atonement are contingent upon repentance. Judas was one who could not bring himself to repent. He had betrayed the innocent ... he had betrayed the Christ. Instead he ended his life and is numbered amongst the reprobate. He took upon himself a curse and carried it to the grave and beyond.

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His counterpart, Peter, repented for his denial of Christ. Judas acted in greed. I've heard it said that he probably thought that Christ would be able to sidestep trouble as he had so many times before. But then he saw how things were going ... and he couldn't take it back .... he couldn't give the blood money back. Nothing he did could change the course of events set off by his betrayal; that kiss that delivered Christ up to his death. Full of shame and regret he ends his life unable to face up to and repent of what he had done. A scape goat.

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And Peter, frightened Peter. Following at a distance to see what would happen to his Lord. Someone fingered Peter. He stumbles back denying and cussing, frightened not once but three times. Turn back the clock to Peter telling Christ he would never deny him ..... if all else were to leave ... not Peter. And Peter knew shame. Till Christ found him and reconciled him and Peter repented and continued a new man. Not a scape goat but one washed in the blood of the lamb.

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Folks appreciate a scape goat. When things go wrong we'd like to hang it around some one's neck and send them packing. Some folks are honest and willing to own up to sin ..... now here is a patsy .... why they have admitted to something. Let us just shift all the blame onto them. Serving as a scape goat is no service. People do not need someone to shift their blame onto. They need to own up, repent and have their sins forgiven.

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King David tried to cover up heinous sin by setting up Uriah to take a hit for the team. Taking out Uriah solved a lot of problems for David. But Uriah was a righteous man. Uriah was the salt of the earth. Salt is a preservative. When a preservative is not in effect things begin to rot and decay. The world was not a better place without Uriah. But sometimes God removes the righteous as an act of judgement on a situation and as protection for the righteous. Yet God saw what was done and was not pleased. David did finally repent and is numbered among the righteous. He left his life of sin and became salt again.

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My point is that we do not need to worry when we have a little or a lot to confess. It is hard to deal with shame. But there is only one wholesome way to deal with sin and that is to confess and forsake. If something needs to be made right we first get right with God. Then he walks us through the rest. We do not have to worry about what to say. The Spirit will give it to us. There are no scape goats under the blood of the lamb.