Success and Failure Blog

Lots of people were asking, in the hours after Tiger Woods’ admission of “transgressions,” what in the world are transgressions?  It’s not a car part or the newest sandwich at your favoriate fast food place (though dieters might think it one), but instead, a word which, if we understand, can give us real success.

King David, in the Old Testament, committed much worse ones than Tiger Woods. He lusted after one of his generals’ wives, Bathsheba, had an affair which resulted in pregnancy, then – when the general, Urriah, wouldn’t sleep with his wife Bathsheba – had him killed and married her.

When he realized that God knew just what had happened, even if he’d hidden it from everyone else, he wrote Psalm 51.  It was his true, heartfelt prayer to God. At the end of the first verse, he pleads with God, according to His tender mercies, to “blot out” his transgressions.

Transgressions are sins. But, the word carries a greater meaning – it shows the stain that sin creates.  A stain that must be blotted out, just as a blotter is used to clean up ink. (No, I’m not old enough to remember using those, but I do love history.)

Our society doesn’t think about the consequences of their actions.  Therefore, we don’t really think about transgressions.  It’s a word that shows we have stains on our hearts, on our lives, that require cleansing.  Just as Davis prayed for God to blot out his transgressions, we all need ours blotted out.

Why? because we are all sinners.  Not everyone would do what Tiger Woods did – and certainly not many people would ever act as King David did.  But, those stains upon our hearts mean that we can’t enter Heaven.  Heaven is a perfect place, where there is no pain, no suffering, no tears.  There can be no sin there.  If there was even one little bit of sin in Heaven, it could make someone suffer, and then it would not be Heaven anymore.

It’s interesting that this came out around Christmas.  Because, this is when we celebrate God’s gift to us.  He came into this world to be born of a virgin, to live a perfect life, and to take the punishment for our sins, the just for the unjust, when He died on the cross and rose from the dead.  He did blot out our transgressions.

David had faith to know that would happen someday.  I don’t know Tiger Woods’ heart, so I don’t know if he’s truly repentent – I do pray that he is.  But, this is a good reminder that each of us has transgressions in our lives.

We haven’t all committed every sin. But, we each have stains in our actions, words, or thoughts – remember, Jesus says that if we lust after someone we’ve committed adultery in our hearts. These are stains on our record that God must blot out.  Instead of an ink blotter, though, we have the only thing that can blot out our transgressions.  It is the perfect blood of our sinless Savior, Jesus Christ, which was shed for each of us.

It is only through faith in His finished work on the cross as blotting out our transgressions that we can go to Heaven. This is because only His blood can wash away the stain. It also allows us to have a relationship here with Him on Earth, so He can help us through all the problems and pitfalls of life.  God wants to have a personal relationship with each of us.