Recently in church, the Lectionary Psalm included Verse 2 of Psalm 130. It said, "If you, Lord, were to note what is done amiss, O Lord, who could stand?" I don't know what version of the Bible that came from but it really jarred me. I grew up reading the King James Version, which said it this way: "If Thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?" It reminded me of something that bothers me about the world, and the Church, today—the lack of accountability. Let's listen to Psalm 130, verses 2-3, in three different versions and then consider what that Scripture means for us:

If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? (NIV)

Lord, if you kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive? (NLT)

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? (ESV)

In the Bible, the word "iniquity" refers to a type of sin that includes a conscious decision to rebel against God’s law by being wicked or immoral in nature or character. In the Lectionary, the quote was "If you Lord were to note what is done amiss, O Lord, who could stand?" Too often you and I want to reject the idea that we are a willful sinner. We want to think that we simply "make mistakes" or we "do things amiss." But if we are going to have a free and open relationship with God, we must face the fact that when we do these things, things that we know God doesn't like, we do them because we want to do them, and, in the process, we have willfully and sinfully rejected God's counsel.

Today, you already know that you have sinned against a holy God. God in Christ will forgive you but first you must honestly face and confess your sin and try not to weasel out of it by suggesting that it was simply a mistake. When we face our sin and confess it, God has promised to destroy the record...and that is very Good News!