Erin James was heading to her home in the Chicago area after
staying out late on a Thursday night celebrating. Really late… as in after 2:00 a.m. Friday
morning. At 58 years old, you would
think that she was old enough to know better, but here she was anyway.
Then she saw the
blue light. Busted! The policeman had pulled her over for
speeding, but he began to question her sobriety. After testing her, he found his suspicions
were confirmed. At 0.155 her blood
alcohol level was nearly twice the legal limit.
She was going to pay dearly for her night of celebration, and subsequent
DUI. But what was she celebrating in the
first place? She was celebrating that
she had finally regained her driving privileges after a DUI arrest in
2012! I guess some people never learn.
Have you learned
from your mistakes? Or do you gravitate
right back to them the moment you’ve shaken yourself free. Peter warns of this in 2 Peter 2:20-22, “ For if, after they have escaped the
pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse
for them than the beginning. For it would have been better
for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment
delivered to them. But
it has happened to them according to the true proverb: ‘A dog returns to his own vomit,’ and, ‘a sow, having washed, to
her wallowing in the mire.’"
So what’s the
lesson here? Don’t bother trying to
repent so you don’t fail and fall back into sin? No, of course not! The lesson is to take our previous sins
seriously and be dedicated to avoiding their repeat at all cost. If we do stumble, then get back up quickly and continue trying.
You see, Erin
James was not sorry for her crime. She
was only sorry to be suffering the punishment for it. Repentance comes from appreciating the
gravity of what we have done, and grieving the sin itself. So how about you? Have you grieved your sins and turned from
them? Or will you never learn?
