May 22, 2018
Through Jesus everyone
who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to
obtain under the law. Acts 13:39
We are set free from
sin by trusting Jesus’ words, and stay free from sin by practicing His habits.
Here’s a challenging thought: Anyone
who hasn’t been forgiven of a sin is doomed to repeat it.
Think through that for a
minute. Let’s say a teen lies, and
eventually gets caught by the parents.
Instead of forgiving the teen, they punish and don’t trust the kid, and
the teen now feels the weight of their guilt and failure every day. Eventually, instead of trying to gain back
trust or avoiding a lie, the teen starts thinking there is no way to succeed,
and starts lying whenever necessary. The
story perpetuates with every lie, reinforcing the belief of the parents that
the teen will never change, and reinforcing the behavior of the teen that
changing never matters.
Apply that same concept to every
area of life – teacher/student, boss/employee, pastor/member, husband/wife, and
you will find that the greatest problem in repeated sin is NOT the sin. The greatest problem is a lack of
forgiveness. Because the ONLY way to
break the cycle is to completely clean the slate. Forgiveness doesn’t mean the consequences are
always removed, but it does mean the guilt is gone. Without it, we are just doomed to continue to
sin, and lose our mooring of righteousness.
That’s why Jesus is so clear on
this topic of forgiveness. The best way
to help others stop sinning is to FORGIVE them!
Without it, they cannot move away from the sin, and without it nor can
we!
Sometimes we combine forgiveness
with other aspects of sin repair. Forgiveness
restores the relationship, penance restores the damage, and discipline removes
the temptation. Jesus gave us
forgiveness on the cross – He took away the guilt. That didn’t change the consequences: if you murder someone, there is still a cost,
but your soul can be saved. The only way
to repair the physical/social damage is through penance. (And I’m not talking about a donation to the
church.) Extra chores, apologies, paying
back the damages, serving a sentence, and many other things are a form of
penance to help restore the damage in this life. But penance doesn’t doom us to repeating a
sin. It’s the lack of forgiveness we may
feel which pushes that button.
Jesus taught us many things,
including a number of spiritual disciplines to help us in dealing with
sin. Practices like prayer, bible study,
service, giving, fasting, worship, and more are tools that help us grow muscles
of righteousness to avoid sin. They don’t
make us perfect, but help us become more perfected in our relationship with
Jesus. Forgiveness frees us from the
sin, disciples direct us away from sin.
Don’t be doomed to repeat sin,
accept the forgiveness of God, and give forgiveness to everyone around you. And practice the disciplines that keep you
from sinning. After all – why go back to
being a slave when you have been set free?!?!
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