I Sinned Yesterday

Posted by: Ben on: August 24, 2009

• In: bible verses | Choices | christianity | Cross-Centered Life | Decisions | glory | God | God's Love | God's mercy | honor | integrity | Jesus Christ | Life | Mistakes | praise | prayers | problems | purpose | reason | sin | suffering | trials
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I sinned yesterday.

…It wasn’t too bad. Nothing serious. In fact, it was nothing at all compared to how I used to be, compared to other sins I’ve committed, compared to other people I know.

I sinned… I messed up… I missed the mark of where God wants me to be. But it’s okay… because God has forgiven me, right?

This kind of attitude will get you killed. This mindset, at the very least, is a dangerous one. And yet, regrettably, I think like this sometimes. Maybe you do, too.

It’s the kind of thinking that Paul talks about in Romans 6. “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?”

Shall I keep sinning, since Christ already saved me from sin and death and hell?? NO! By NO means! Christ saved me from sin….so I shall no longer sin. That’s what Romans 6 seems to be saying.

But, somehow, that doesn’t make sense to me! If Christ has saved me from my sin, how come I still sin? Why do I still have a desire to lie or hate or covet or lust? Why is there still pride and selfishness and deceit in this heart of mine, which Christ has cleansed and changed and made new? Why do I still sin if Christ has set me free from sin?

The girls invited me to write something for their blog. When they told me, I was overjoyed. Believe me, it’s an honor. But, at the same time, I… I felt like I had nothing to say. To be honest, in recent weeks, my walk with God has been at a standstill, in a gutter–you could say, almost going down the drain.

Sometimes, I started to think… maybe, just maybe, I’m not a Christian after all. “The man who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (I John 2:4). Having disobeyed Christ over and over again, perhaps I am not really saved. Perhaps, I have been fooled all these years and I am not really alive in Christ, but rather dead still in my sin; and the grace of the Father–God forbid!–is not mine!

This is what kills the Christian. This mindset of “maybe I’m not a Christian after all”…… which originates from not taking sin seriously; treating God’s gift of grace like “fire insurance”; failing to remember what Christ has done for us; forgetting His love, His sacrifice, His grace! Forgetting the CROSS! This is a wide road that leads to destruction. This is a doorway to hypocrisy and apostasy and judgment. This is “crucifying once again the Son of God…and holding him up to contempt” (Hebrews 6:6). With His blood, Jesus paid for our freedom from sin. He sets us free——I know that! He promises me that! When I forget that… when I forget Christ, I am crucifying Him once again. What a dreadful thought.

When I find myself stuck in this rut, I realize that my doubts and my struggles and my questions all stem from one thing–I have forgotten what Christ has done for me. I Peter 1 talks about followers of Christ who are not bearing fruit. “For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins” (I Peter 1:9). When Christ saved me, His amazing grace opened my eyes and freed me from slavery. But, having forgotten what He has done, I embrace again the blindness, the stumbling, the slaving for sin, the old, familiar routine. I forget…and it’s scary!

It’s scary to think what might happen if I stay in this position, if I continue ingesting the poisonous lies of the Liar, if I will not get back up out of this rut, this valley, this amnesia, this forgetting JESUS! If I continue this way, then…

But, NO! Jesus says to get back up. THIS is the point of grace…that we can’t do it on our own. We’re so weak! And Christ is glorified all the more in our weakness. God’s grace is all the more glorious in our failings. He says He’ll get us through…persevere…hold fast…to the end. Our job is to get back up and keep remembering what He did for us.

I… we… need to REMEMBER the cross. Constantly. REMEMBER the grace that He’s poured and continues to lavish upon us. REMEMBER the hope that is in us, that can never be taken away, because if the Son has set you free, you are free indeed! Rest in the set-in-stone fact that Christ died for you and now you’re living for Him.

Remember it.