I fancy myself an articulate, verbal conversationalist. I have, on occasion, been known to peruse the dictionary as a means of expanding my vocabulary. Among my peers, my communicative prowess is quite legendary. (I have, at times, been affectionately referred to as “Mr. Thesarus”.) So imagine my shock, indeed my utter horror, as I came across a sentence in tonight’s grad school reading that contained a word I’d never seen before.

Saul appears, in short, to be an innocent victim whose peccadilloes are far outweighed by his punishment.

pec·ca·dil·lo, n, Latin – a petty or unimportant offense or fault

Thanks, Dictionary.com.

Saul was indeed a man fraught with peccadilloes, though Scripture is clear his offenses were neither petty nor unimportant. His actions in 1 Sam. 13 and 15 stood as bold violations of the explicit command he received from God through Samuel. As a result, Yahweh summarily rejected him, tearing the Kingdom from Saul and his line, metaphorically illustrated at 15:27, 28. Saul is introduced in the text as an incompetent, unfit shepherd (1 Sam. 9), foreshadowing his failings as a steward of the LORD’s inheritance (1 Sam. 10:1). Saul illustrates, perhaps more than any other OT character, the spiritually corrupt condition infecting humanity after the Fall.

I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting today…reflecting about sin and our fallen nature and our inability to fully live the God-life. These truths are more self-evident on certain days, and this was one of those days. Some news came my way today that reminded me of the ugly hold sin can take over us. What do we do when heroes fall? How can we reconcile life in the Spirit with life in the flesh? When we’re faced with the reality of sin and it’s painful residue, all our doctrine and theology can seem like so much pietistic posturing. The question that runs over and over in my head is this: can we live the kind of life we’re called to live?

The answer is no.

No, we cannot live a life worthy of our calling.

Not on our own.

I once heard it said that the Christian life is impossible for us to live; only one Person ever lived it perfectly and He did it well enough that they named it after Him. The amazing thing to me isn’t that Christ lived blamelessly and without sin (would you expect anything less from Deity?). What blows me away is that He offers to live that life again in me. He is the only remedy for my fallenness. Only He can mend me in my broken places; Christ alone empowers me to live the God-life.

Because He lives it in me.

This life, full of the Spirit, conforms me into His image, the image of Christ.

These are the days I need to hear that message most.

And as the Spirit of the LORD works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more. — 2 Corinthians 3:18, NLT

Hear our prayer, Lord Jesus.