No to Sin!
“Lord, don't blame them for what they have done.”

Acts 7:60

I think I have written about her before but another word about her would be appropriate because “Big Bertha” was an important part of our family when my kids were small. I have no recollection of how she got the name, but “Big Bertha” took the blame for every mess for which no one else would accept responsibility. It was a running “half-serious” joke for years as our children slowly learned to accept responsibility for their own mistakes.

It certainly is good that “Big Bertha” was an imaginary person. If she was not she would have spent most of her life locked up somewhere for all the trouble she caused. She never committed a felony, but almost everything she did was at least a misdemeanor. Now that all of my children are responsible adults Bertha has gone into retirement and doesn’t get blamed for anything.

As Stephen was being stoned to death after telling the Jewish leaders about Jesus he prayed. Stephen prayed that God would forgive the men who were throwing the stones which took his life. Stephen said, “Lord, don’t blame them for what they have done.” He mirrored the words of Jesus as He hung on the cross.

The prayer of Jesus and of Stephen as they were dying is clearly outside the arena of a normal human response. To pray for the forgiveness of those who are taking your life is completely outside of the box.

Please don’t take this wrong, but in a very real sense Jesus Himself is “Big Bertha.” Jesus takes the blame for everything that we have ever done wrong. Every sin is put squarely on His shoulders. It is the heart and center of the Gospel. I do not have to accept the blame and punishment for my sins!

So then, can I just go on sinning and not worry about it? Oh no! Romans chapter 6 says that we are dead to sin. Jesus died because of our sin, and we die to our sins.

Perhaps the picture lacks some theological soundness, but imagine that every time you sin you are beamed back to Calvary and Jesus is put back on the cross to suffer for that one. You stand and watch until His suffering for that sin is done. How many times would you put Him back on the cross until you would say to Sin, “ENOUGH?” I have had enough of Sin.

But it is true that every sin I do not commit is one for which Jesus did not have to suffer and die.

“Big Bertha” was an imaginary person, but Jesus is real. He really went to the cross and suffered and died for your sins and mine. He took the blame so that I don’t have to stand condemned. My job today is simply to say “Yes” to Jesus and “No” to sin.