September 7, 2026
Monday, September 7
Years ago, I boarded a flight, then sat and waited as the flight crew went through their long (but necessary) checklist of pre-flight details. I was pondering how I was going to pass the next several hours of my life, when I noticed a man in a chef’s hat (a toque, I believe they call it), walking slowly up the aisle. He was holding a clipboard, and as he spoke to each passenger, he wrote something down—I assumed it was a food order. I got excited. Did this mean that my in-flight meal would be something tastier than the typical pre-cooked, plastic-film-covered airline slop? I hoped so.
He was so close now, I could almost reach out and touch him. I could already taste the medium-rare filet mignon and buttery lobster tail. Just then, a flight attendant came along, drawing a curtain between us. It seemed so randomly cruel. All of us on board that plane were people. We breathed the same oxygen. Yet some were favored, while others got Lean Cuisine.
That’s the way of the world, isn’t it? Some live in a higher plane (pun intended). I’m not talking about mere economics, either. I grew up with two parents, four grandparents, and countless other adults who loved me and took an active interest in shaping my character. I was never a pawn in a custody battle. I was never abused or neglected, didn’t have a parent who struggled with addiction or was incarcerated. Unlike people born in other parts of the world, I didn’t grow up in a war zone, where violence and deprivation are a daily part of life. I never feared starvation or enslavement. My life wasn’t dictated by an authoritarian government. I didn’t earn any of this, mind you. In so many ways that can’t be quantified with a dollar sign, I was truly born in first class.
There’s an unspoken assumption that the same is true in the spiritual realm; that there are the favored few, and the rest make up the rabble. Sure, we’re all sinners. The Bible is clear on that. But some sins are different than others, right? Surely some sins can be easily forgiven, written off by the bank of Heaven as mere accounting errors, pennies on the dollar. And other sins, darker and more scandalous, can only be forgiven after certain stringent conditions are met…if at all.
This belief is found among respectable religious types, as well as those who would be ashamed even to darken the door of a church. But is it true? Last week, we began our series by asking, “What is forgiveness?” This week, we’ll see how forgiveness takes place. Are all sins the same, or are some more serious, more “deadly”? We’ll look at two biblical stories so similar, Christians often get their details confused. But together, they teach us something crucial about God’s mercy.
“Father, thank you for the many ways you blessed me from birth. Every good thing I have had, every advantage I’ve enjoyed, came from you. Teach me gratitude, but also grace. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Senior Pastor
First Baptist Conroe
More from Pastor Jeff at his website: jeffbergerwriting.com
