James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

Several bible versions use the word sin or sins rather than faults, but if I used sins, this devotional would make no sense. Here again is the Lord using that variety of speech to speak to us about our nature and how things can be seen from a different perspective in relating to our human condition.

A recent movie about disaster and destruction is called San Andreas. The title itself tells us what the movie is about because it is the most widely known faults because of its activity and location near highly populated areas. What people do not think about with faults is the same thing they overlook with sin, the fault isn’t the problem, sin isn’t the problem.

Let me explain. Subduction is the problem. The pushing down of the earth’s plates underneath another plate is called a subduction zone. Friction heats and thins the leading edge of the top plate creating weakness in the upper plate. Pressure upon that upper plate exposes danger zones, where it will crack and be moved off its connection to the rest of the plate. Occasionally enough underlying erosion occurs which causes a sudden drop, separation, shift in the upper plate and shock waves shudder throughout the area and damage can be seen in the form of a quake.

Think of the lower plate as our old sin nature, not sin, but sin nature. It is always pushing upon and applying pressure to our upper plate, our new nature, our spiritual nature. We are continually pushing down our sin nature, suppressing it and trying to keep it down. By nature, just like the subduction zone, it erodes away at our underpinning, even if it is deep down.

Relief of pressure of deep faults cause the least surface damage. The depth of a quake is important in how much surface damage it does. A 7.5 quake at a depth of 20 miles will hardly result in any noticeable surface damage. A 3.5 at a depth of one mile will devastate the surface.

Confessing deep sins, relieving the pressure before they come to the surface will cause less destruction where people live.

Matthew 5:36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.

On the way home last night we saw an antique police car, complete with red domed bubble gum light. It was a black and white car. This was my inspiration for this devotional.

In my personal life I see things in black and white, right and wrong. The gray areas always got me in trouble. That is me, I live that way because I choose to do so for my own well-being. Where I go wrong is in acting as if everyone else should live the same way. That makes me the SP, Spiritual Police.

My rationale is not that I am being judgmental, I know the truth. The error in that rationale is that I have not adhered to Matthew 5:36, neither shall I swear by the truth (Jesus is my head, Jesus is truth) for I cannot make one thing black nor white. I am not sure, but I do not think I am alone in doing this.

In trying to draw this out to a more clear end, the police observe and bring accusations before a judge who then determines what is to be done with the accused. See it isn’t my responsibility to determine guilt or innocence but to bring offenders before the judge. But here is the problem:

Revelation 12:10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

Oops, that is Satan and I have taken on the role of or acted as Satan. That is as black as black gets.

That alone is enough for me to step away and back into the light.