Thur Inspiration

Morning Inspiration with Pastor Merritt

We’ve all done things at one time or another that we are deeply ashamed of and though this will sound trite to some of you today one of the greatest things I was ashamed of in my life was the one time that I cheated on an exam. I was always a straight “a” student and never cheated, because I never had to. Academics came easy to me, but there was one subject that I absolutely hated and still hate to this day and it is chemistry. The one thing that you must learn to do in chemistry is to balance chemical equations. For some reason, I never could get the hang of balancing those equations. The only “c” that I ever made was in my high school chemistry class.

We were taking an examination which would determine whether or not we got to skip the final examination. If you made at least a “b” you could skip the final examination. I panicked during the exam and began to pull out my textbook out from under my desk and look at it. I know what you are thinking, “That is a stupid way to cheat.” You are right. I was so inexperienced at cheating I didn’t even know how to do it.

You guessed it. My teacher, Mrs. Hall, had gone to the back of the room. She was watching. I was so caught up in cheating that I didn’t realize where she was and she came an snapped up my paper and went to the front of the room and sat there and folded her arms and just stared at me. Two thoughts entered into my mind at that moment: suicide and murder. I knew I must either kill myself or if my dad found out he would do it for me. When class was dismissed she was standing by the door waiting on me. With a withering look all she said to me was, “Of all the people that I thought would cheat on an exam you would have been the last one on my list. I can’t tell you how disappointed I am in you.” I still had two weeks to go in that class and it was two weeks of misery. I would walk into class and never say a word and walk out of class and never say a word. I walked in and took the final exam, put it on her desk and left. That happened my junior year in high school. My entire senior year, whenever I would see her, I would avoid her. If she came down the hall, I would duck into a classroom. I was just too ashamed to say anything to her.

Literally, twenty years later I was sitting at home and I was preparing a sermon on confession and out of the blue God spoke to my heart and said, “Things are not all right until all things are right.”

I got on my computer and did some investigating and found Mrs. Hall’s name and address. I sat down and I wrote her a handwritten note.

“Dear Mrs. Hall,

You may or may not remember me (and of course I gave my name) and you may or may not remember this, but I do. I have never confessed to you cheating on that chemistry exam and I have never asked your forgiveness.

Today, I am doing both. I make no excuses. I simply cheated. I failed you and I failed God. I have received His forgiveness and I am asking for yours.

Sincerely,

James Merritt

I didn’t know if I would ever hear from her or not or if she even got my letter. About a week later I got a note in the mail, handwritten from her.

“Dear James,

What a pleasant surprise to hear from one of my favorite students! Of course, you are forgiven. Isn't it sweet to know that the presence of Jesus in your heart will not permanently allow unconfessed sin to stay there?”

Her words were so true. I ask you today, “Do you need God to come back into focus? Would you be willing to let Him put your heart under His microscope and give you a thorough examination? Whatever you find in your heart that is against Him or against others, would you be willing to confess it and make it right so you can again be “up close and personal?”