I recently looked through my junior high yearbook and started reminiscing.
I was in the drama club and recalled why I didn’t continue the next year. All year long, the sponsor told us about a year-end party that she always hosted at her house. It was one of the most talked about events in the whole school.
When it came time to learn the details during a regularly scheduled meeting, a few kids from the group of about 50 kept chattering while the sponsor was trying to talk.
She told everyone to be quiet several times but couldn’t tell exactly where the noise was coming from. Out of frustration, she told us that the party was canceled because of the interruptions.
I knew I was not guilty of talking, just guilty by association because I was in the same room. I was disappointed that I was treated unfairly, and I lost interest in being part of the drama club the next year. In a sense, I felt rejection as an individual.
This all reminded me that in God’s eyes, we are looked at as individuals, not as a group. We are responsible for our own sin and their consequences.
More importantly, we have access as individuals to the grace of God to where we, even though guilty, can receive forgiveness, peace and eternal life.
We must go to God the Father as an individual with a spirit of repentance, confessing our sins and trusting in salvation brought about by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The good news is that we can.