Have you ever started down one path, then you go deeper – until you end up back where you started? We did this once on a youth camping trip. We put all of our packs on with tents, food, etc. and left the parking lot and headed down the path. We trusted our leader to get us to our destination. After about 50 mins of hiking down and up various hills…we noticed a disturbing site – we saw the parking lot that we had just left!!! Some of our first timers were ready to pack up and go home, but we started again and took the correct turn and ended up at the right site and had a great weekend together.
I started thinking about Sin and Forgiveness. I know what sin is: It is more than just right & wrong. It is anything that separates us from God. But, for some reason I went down the rabbit hole on various sins. You can search for yourself and find all sorts of answers: 667 sins with references, 500 Old Testament sins, 7 Deadly sins, root of all sins and on it goes.
One of the more interesting thoughts I had was the occurrence of a few that are frequently repeated in the New Testament. In order of occurrence (note that this list is based on my limited research and is not conclusive, but indicative), these include: Sexual Immorality, Coveting / Passion, Deceit / Liars, Dissensions/Disobedient, Envy, Slander, Adultery, Anger / Wrath, Evil Thoughts, Foolishness/No Self Control, Idolatry, Malice, Unholy / Unrighteous, Pride / Arrogant, Sensuality, Drunkenness, Faithless, Heartless, Impurity, Lust, Murder…
What separates good from evil or right from wrong? Russian author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote three volumes called The Gulag Archipelago to compile a record of the prison system and labor camps after the Bolsheviks came into power in Russia in 1917. A few of his famous quotes:
The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either — but right through every human heart — and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained. And even in the best of all hearts, there remains . . . an un-uprooted small corner of evil.“
During the life of any heart this line [between good and evil] keeps changing place; sometimes it is squeezed one way by exuberant evil and sometimes it shifts to allow enough space for good to flourish. One and the same human being is, at various ages, under various circumstances, a totally different human being. At times he is close to being a devil, at times to sainthood.”
Humans are by our very nature sinful. Ever since the fall of Adam, Sin entered the world. Oswald Chambers wrote an interesting point about Bible characters. They did not fall when they were weak – they fell in the peak of their strength! We fall when we are strong!
The Bible characters fell on their strong points, never on their weak ones.
How simply powerful, how perceptible, how utterly true. And, not just for bible characters, but for each one of us. We all fall or sin where we are strongest, not necessarily in our weak areas. We tend to think the reverse is true that we are weak and therefore easily tempted. In truth, however, we sin far more often when we no longer require the Lord’s help, when we no longer need him to rescue us. We sin in arrogance, in haste, in self-confidence, in the times when we know we can do it ourselves. In our frailty we cry out to Him to save us, to help us, to sustain us. But in those times when our confidence is high and our strength is renewed, we choose to walk alone. This is when we fail, when we sin, when we go it alone.
I thought today of the times in my life when I have been riding a wave of enthusiasm, when I have been at the very top of my success or when I have been fully in-control. I was alive, I was well, I was moving forward, until in one swift moment, in passion and haste, I fell — terribly–awfully–incredibly far down from that precipice.
Christ said that he is strong when we are weak. Yes, this is true. But we need him most when we are strong and self-confident and are tempted to walk alone. Let us remember to keep our eyes upon Jesus, no matter how good we feel or how strong we may be. We need him to keep our feet from stumbling and to keep us firmly grounded on the Rock of our Salvation.
I enjoy reading Billy Graham’s devotionals and the following was one from 11/03/2024 titled Justice…Love…Forgiveness:
When we preach justice, it is justice tempered with love. When we preach righteousness, it is righteousness founded on love. When we preach atonement, it is atonement planned by love, provided by love, given by love, finished by love, necessitated because of love. When we preach the resurrection of Christ, we are preaching the miracle of love. When we preach the return of Christ, we are preaching the fulfillment of love.
While reading the book of Romans I ran across this verse where God declares us righteous because of faith and faith alone. Rom 1:17 “…the righteous will live by faith”. No works will save us, only a believing, loving, trusting, growing relationship with God through faith – that and that alone is what will save us. Faith is a gift from God along with His grace, not our deeds – we are saved by His GRACE!
We also need forgiveness. We need to practice it and to accept it! Theologian Miroslav Volf says, “To forgive is to condemn the fault but to spare the doer”. Our word “forgive” stems from the Greek verb aphiemi, which means “let go”. To hold something against another is unforgiving; to let it go is to forgive. Out of His deep love for us, God lets our offenses go.
We were not saved from our sin simply so that we would qualify for heaven. God delivered us so we would have a relationship with Him through which He could carry out His mission to redeem a lost world. From Experiencing God Devotion (Jan15)
In closing, James summed this up better than all. Paul talks a little about how, for non-essential items, it may be wrong for some, but not for others based on their background and circumstances. James put it this way in vers 4:17, “Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.”
The Good News
No matter what sin you have committed, or how terrible, dirty, or shameful it may be, God loves you. This love of God is immeasurable, unmistakable, and unending! The entire purpose and theme of the Bible is God’s love for us and how he gave us a gift for us to accept, if we only have the faith of a child…
If you want to experience this love that is promised. Start by asking Jesus into your life, start your journey with other christians who will support you – it is a worthwhile, lifelong journey. It is not always easy, but it is always joyful!