Emphasis Preaching Journal

Early one Saturday morning, a man heard thieves breaking into his home. He was upstairs at the time. He quickly called the police. When the police arrived, whoever had broken into the house was gone. The kitchen door did show signs that someone forced their way into the house.

That's not the end of the story. As the man, along with the police officers, checked out the house to see if anything was taken, television or electronic equipment, the police discovered that the man was growing a large amount of marijuana in his basement. They also discovered all sorts of drug paraphernalia around the house.

The man who called the police to report a break-in was, in fact, arrested himself. The story was reported in the newspaper and on a couple of regional television news programs. The whole episode brought chuckles and smiles to many people. "Who could be so foolish?" someone asked. Another person wondered if the person did not think that what he was doing in his home was illegal.

Maybe one of our contemporary problems is that we fail to see the sin in our own lives. We are quick to spot others' misdeeds but do not recognize our own sin. The apostle Paul asked, "How can we who died to sin go on living in it?" We need Jesus.