Some among us believe sin has been watered down. I believe those "some among us" are right. Nearly everyone who has the slightest brush with Christianity knows that "All sin and come short of the glory of God". Yet, somehow there may have developed a shrug of "So?" over time. If everyone is in on it, then what's the sweat?
Sin is ugly, rugged, indescribably offensive to the heart of God. It has spread like wildfire. All are contaminated; ruined by it's ambitious attachment. No psychology, no therapist, no amount of jumping through religious hoops can curtail such leproscopic aggressiveness.
Awareness of the magnitude of sin should alarm each as to how much we intentionally fellowship it. While murder or adultery may be far from our activity, Jesus said anger with a brother and lust are equal. Often we wink at his frank points. Church squabbles erupt over worship styles while personal blindness to how much we have been spared regarding sin handily escapes us...which, in turn, makes any worship effort quite anemic. Piano or no piano is not the urgent question. The question is are you worshipping the God who single-handedly brought you out of your own sin quagmire? Are you pouring your heart out to Him because you know the depth of your forgiveness or do you merely join in on the church celebration because it meets your needs?
So, are we to walk guilty of sin or liberated from it? Liberated without forgetting from whence we come...each day...is my take. Jesus taught that the one who is forgiven much loves much. Evidently such a person lives in excessive gratitude by recalling what he has been spared. Unloving brethren or opponents have forgotten one thing when they/we take our great stances. We have forgotten how much of a guilty mess we would be in----over our head in shame----if it weren't for the blood bath Jesus endured up to and on the cross. He took the beating we should have received.
It is true, we are not condemned if we are in Jesus (Romans 8:1-11) because Hell's bullies unrestrictedly beat the living fire out of him to a point beyond recognition (Isaiah 53) due to our sins. If you think you know someone who is vile in sin, you may be making accurate assessment. However, it might do you well to drop the stone you are tempted to toss. You'll find reason to give assistance toward miraculous reconciliation rather than typical condemnation if you can immediately recall deep gratitude for the three-day-dead man named Jesus because of you own guilt.
4 comments:
Powerfully good my friend!
You always have such a great way of getting right to the heart of the matter. Thank you for that! I do believe people have watered down sin. I hear comments all the time like, "We are going to all sin, I'm just grateful for God's grace to make me more than I can be on my own." I sometimes think that's a cop out comment. And maybe an excuse to continue sinning because "God's going to forgive me anyway". Thanks for reminding us of the ugliness of sin and it's offensiveness to God. Blessings!
Upon first reading of this, a song came to mind:
Does he still feel the nails...everytime I fail.
That song hits me where it hurts. Sin is SO ugly and even moreso when we recognize when we are doing it and pretend it's okay for now and will repent later. Watered down is the perfect term for this. It frustrates me so that each day that I do this and yet He still loves me so much.
Brenda beat me to it, I was thinking of the same song.
Powerful thoughts Terry.
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