faith and sin

What is our real call as Christians? Is it to legislate a sense of morality? Is it to wave angry fists at those with whom we disagree? Is it to throw insults back at those who insult us?

I truly doubt that our call is any of those above. I believe our call is first and foremost to be in relationship with our Creator through His Son who did the work on the cross by way of his own sacrifice in order to reconcile us back to our heavenly Father. I believe that this call then includes living our lives in such manners that this relationship is expressed naturally in all that we do so that His glory may be reflected back to the world.  We are given the word which outlines the steps in which The Word did this to set the pace for those who would later deny their "self, take up their cross daily and follow" him.

What did this include?

It included touching those who should not, by societal standards, be touched. It also includes sitting with those who were/are considered "unclean", sharing meals, talking with them, revealing the heart of their heavenly Father to them, encouraging them to seek that relationship for their self so that they too may experience that restoration intended from the beginning. He challenged behaviors that did not line up with that relationship. He especially challenged those who claimed that they had that very same relationship but were not living in a manner that reflected the relationship they claimed to have.

He embraced the sinner while rejecting, and literally in some cases physically casting out, the sin. We are called to do the same. As John points out, the world does not need to be judged, because it is judged already. It is condemned already. Therefore, there is little to any reason to work on condemning the world further. In fact, what the world needs, what we as Christians are called to do, is to demonstrate what it is like to be transformed by the renewing of our minds rather than remaining conformed to the ways of this world.

This cannot be legislated. It cannot be forced. It cannot be made to happen. I've tried and know for a fact that you cannot force a horse to drink water. They will yank, pull, twitch, buck and kick, but they will not open their mouth and start to drink just because you are trying to force their face into the trough. Allow the horse time to realize it is thirsty and it will reach into that trough for what will refresh.

The example of a genuine/real/non-hypocritical Christian lifestyle is supposed to give direction for that thirst that we feel rumbling up from that deep unknown place within.

We so often fall back into that pattern that is referred to as original sin. Do you know what it is? No, it is not being naked, nor is it about sex, apples or kiwi (as one person proposed). It is about man's innate desire to be his own god. We want to have all the knowledge in order to have all the control so that we can make things happen the way we want them to happen. I discovered some time ago now, that this just simply doesn't work. There was a saying I heard when a teen but cannot recall who originated it; in the beginning, God created man, in return, man created god.

This perspective allows me to see that all of us are broken. Some hide their brokenness well. Others fail to see where their brokenness begins. Others recognize their brokenness and strive to make up for it--over working, over achieving, trying to make up for it by fixing others, etcetera. I know for certain that I cannot save anyone. I can come alongside them in their grief and share the gifting of love that has been given to me. I can meet them while they are in their own darkness, lost in their own sin and allow them to see the lack of judgment and condemnation in my own eyes. I can share with them my own story of being in darkness and what happened when I began to walk out of the shadows and into the light. I cannot by my own strength, but by His strength flowing through me, meet someone where they are at. It allows me to see with His eyes and notice the person separate from whatever their "stuff" may be (current sin, addictions, abuses, histories and the like). I am called to be a light in the darkness to give proof to the effective working of God in a person's life.

Yet, there is also a truth to the challenge associated with being this light; the message is one of love (God with everything you have and your neighbor as yourself) but does that mean that sin no longer exists? Does love excuse whatever a person would do as long as they do it out of love?

I don't believe so. I believe that in the case of genuine love, it means that we would do what we could in regards to guiding others away from self-harm (and therein lies another debate about what constitutes self-harm and who has the right to interfere).  This may seem like it would then justify legislating morality, yet, it is not. I continue to hold true to the statement made earlier that one cannot legislate morality. We must, though, provide an example that may lead others to this same light that we as Christians have come to know. Not coercion to refrain from sin, but a loving desire to live in a new way.....thanks be to God.