I know that "sin" isn't a popular word these days. Even in the church though many Christians won't admit it. It seems that in response to the judgmental stereotype that Christians have held in the USA for so long now, many churches have gone to the other extreme and tread lightly on the word or even the concept of "sin." The problem with this is the same as the problem with being hyper-judgmental toward people's sin. Good intentions, poor execution. But I think it's a subject that we can't ignore. Sin is, in fact, what separates us God and therefore needs to be talked about. The idea of trusting Jesus and following Him hinges on our acceptance that we are not perfect. That we have done bad, selfish things. So if we don't treat the subject with the seriousness that it deserves, then we neglect to admit that we need saving. On the other hand, when we harp to much on the sin, we may never feel as if we have been restored to our Creator. It's not like there is a fine line or anything, we're just hyper-sensitive about what we believe and therefore we tend to get a little over zealous. It's how opinions eventually turn into doctrine. Which is scary.
That being said, I want to talk about sin. It's the universal topic when you think about it. It's like breathing. We've all done it pretty much our whole lives. some people don't see it like that. They think you can do whatever you want as long as you don't hurt anyone else. Others don't even have the "as long as you don't hurt anyone else" clause. Some simply figure God will work it all out so when you do bad things, bad things will happen to you. (NOT). And then you have the Christians.
We're a strangely diverse bunch. We have rich people, poor people, Republicans, Democrats, independents, businessmen, farmer, white collar, blue collar, and I could keep going. But just like everyone else, all of us have, and continue to, sin. Our response to our sin however, can be totally different. Some of us ignore it. Some of us try to hide it. Some of us beat ourselves to death for it. Some of us carry the guilt around for years. Still others of us say a quick, "Hey God. Sorry about that. Amen." type of prayer and never think about it again. No matter which of these you may be, there is an issue here that is bigger. We're not being saved from our sin. In fact, we often don't want to be.
I am learning that there is a difference between being saved from my sin, (which is what Jesus came to do) (Matthew 1:21), and simply being saved from the penalty of my sin. The penalty of my sin is death, (Romans 6:23), but God loves me so much that he has given me an opportunity to have eternal life, (John 3:16), but He doesn't want me to stop there. He's happy to extend the opportunity to have eternal life to me, but He wants so much more for me. He wants me to be saved from the very thing that causes my separation from Him. The sin itself.
God will forgive us over and over and over again if that's what it takes. As long as we are genuine in our desire to be forgiven He will forgive. But what he really wants is for us to become who we were created to be. People who live and work and laugh and love and cry and who's hearts break with HIS. He wants to close that gap that our sin creates not just be getting rid of the penalty but by getting rid of the sin itself. Sadly, we rarely let Him do this work. Because this would require full submission to Him. We can fake our way through life with other enough to make it look like we have our crap together so don't do the hard, difficult work of the soul it takes to be saved from our sin. I am learning that this work is not popular because it hurts. I'm learning that coming face to face with how selfish I have actually been living is humbling. I'm learning that being saved from my sin is humiliating sometimes. But I am also learning that unless I go through it, I'll never be the person God made me to be. I'm also learning that the life I am headed into by doing the difficult work of the soul is the abundant life that Jesus talked about. I'm learning that living the way of Jesus is even harder than I thought. But taking up your cross was never a pleasant picture. So i can't blame Jesus for sugar-coating it. He simply didn't.
I don't have all the answers. It's a long, hard road to travel and the road is different for everyone. So as much as I wish I could give you the steps to take to do the difficult work of the soul, I just can't. all I can say is that it begins with asking God to help you love him more. Help you follow him more closely. Help you know Him better. Because the more you love God, the closer you get to Him, and the better you know Him; the more like Him you will become. And that is what will save you from your sin, and not just from the penalty of it.
