Smelling Sin

I'm attempting to write this post now for the third time. Mostly it's just because I don't have time to think. But because of the pervasiveness of the subject, I find that I'm actually thinking about it all the time. So here goes the exercise of organizing my thoughts.

The subject is sin. "Oh no! Not again!" I hear you all say! Yes, again. This time it's triggered by a little book I'm reading called The Smell of Sin and the Fresh Air of Grace by Don Everts. The title intrigued me and it really is a little book so it didn't intimidate me!

I've wondered for years why I don't seem to know beforehand that I'm going to sin. The "big sins" like stealing and murdering... I mean... sure I would know I was about sin if I were about to engage in something like that but I don't do things like that so the whole issue is a little more cloudy for me. It seems that I sin and then I realize what I've done and then I kick myself for not seeing it beforehand so I could have prevented it. It's so totally defeating to me. But after studying this little book I've come up with a couple of reasons that I think this might happen.

After I sin and see the results of my selfish behavior, I am always sad, remorseful and occasionally repentant. It's at these times I cry out, "If only I had known what this action would have led to then I would have never done it!" But the curious thing is why didn't I see the potential repercussions of my sin? Most likely, it's because my behavior is so often focused only on me and seldom on others. (Ouch... that hurt!) But it's true, I must admit. I am frequently careless with my actions because I believe sin to be an annoyance, a silly rule that got broken, a failed attempt to walk a line that, to me, doesn't seem to have a purpose. My decision on whether or not to sin just doesn't seem to be extremely serious. I see it more as an inconvenience, a slip up, or even a struggle. But not a life or death situation.

Jesus didn't see sin this way. In all three of the synoptic gospels, Jesus says that it would be better for someone to have a millstone tied around their neck and be thrown into the sea than to cause someone else to sin (Matt. 18:6, Mark 9:42, & Luke 17:2). He also says it would be better to saw off your foot, pluck out your eye, or cut off your hand than to sin. Geesh! Why'd he take this stuff so seriously? I mean, we all fail; we all make mistakes! Come on! But that may just be his whole point.

We are all failures. Every last one of us. And the price for that is, according Jesus, "eternal fire". So if every last one of us took Jesus at his word, every last one of us would be at the bottom of Lake Murray (insert your own local body of water) with a cinder block tied around our necks. And then where would we be? No one to subdue the earth as God commanded; His beautiful creation destroyed by their own hands; the fellowship He created us for ablated. Jesus saw the hopelessness of this entire situation. He knew where we were headed. And he came to stop it once and for all. The problem is, we just don't see the problem!

Satan in all his cleverness has made sure that we see our sins as minor trifles, mere annoyances, minimal inconveniences. Most of us aren't murderers and can do fairly well (we think) with keeping those big 10 rules. But the problem is that the first time we think or behave selfishly, we've broken the first one and so whether or not we've ever murdered anyone becomes a mute point. But Satan makes sure that we don't see it that way. He covers our sins over with a pastel mist, breathing into our selfish hearts sentiments like, "Well, she deserved that" and "It really wasn't as bad as all that" and "It wouldn't have been fair to me if it had turned out the way it was headed!". And when you have pastel sins instead of blood red ones, there is really very little need for a Savior.

I believe Jesus. I believe He knew what He was doing when He allowed himself to be nailed to the cross. And if I believe all that, then I have to believe that sin is, as Jesus says, a life or death situation. It's serious. It's important, important enough for Him to suffer an agonizing, torture for me to be able to escape it. I look on the cross and I see a loving Father that understands the significance of my sin infinitely more than I do. And then I realize that my sin is not a mere inconvenience or minor annoyance. It's a slap in the face to a loving parent that sacrificed himself for me. It's like spitting in my mother's face when she greets me at the door with the scent of a holiday meal wafting from the kitchen where she has been toiling away in love. We have to understand what our sin is like, how it smells before we can take seriously its effects. I have to spiritually "blow my nose" so I can get rid of these satanic lies and learn to recognize the smell of sin. And once I know its stench it will be a lot easier to avoid.

Tissue and Nasonex anyone?

Body Part du Jour

If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into enternal fire
-Jesus

I can't do it. I fell asleep last night contemplating it and have sat at the table this morning trying to figure out how I could be brave enough to cut out my tongue. But unfortunately, the more I think about it, it would be my tongue today, my hand another day and my feet the day after that. What about my brain? What happens when it's time to cut that off?

And then I realized something (Ok, this isn't really the first time I've realized this-just the first time I've blogged it). It's not my tongue or my hands or my feet that cause me to sin. It's my nature. Jesus understood this. He knew I'd eventually get to the place where I'd realize how hopeless all this chopping off of body parts is. This is where I crucify my nature on the cross of Calvary- but that seems to be more nice, neat, Christianese for something I can't do. I think it would be easier to cut out my tongue.

I can't stop sinning. I've tried. I keep trying. I keep failing. I sound like Paul. I've been here with him before. So I know where to start reading. Romans 8:1.

Thanks, Paul. I needed that.

Contemplations on the Cross

(You'd better have your cup of coffee and some uninterrupted time...watch out! This one's a long one!)

I haven’t blogged in while and I can blame it mostly on Oswald. He’s been talking about the agony of the cross. And it’s hard for me to think about the agony of Calvary without wondering, “why?”. Why did it have to be the cross? Why couldn’t an all powerful God forgive our sins in a less gruesome way? Why did it have to cause Jesus so much pain and shame? Why was this the way it had to be done? Why did it have to be the sacrifice- the painful death- of an only Son? Why such heartbreak to redeem mankind from the slavery of sin?

I came across a verse in 1 Timothy 3:16 that frustrated me but rang so true:

Beyond all question the mystery of godliness is great.

God’s ways are a mystery- beyond my understanding. Yes, I knew that was true:
Isaiah 55:8-9:
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my way,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts

But for me these are almost a cop-out. To say I cannot understand the horror of the cross simply because God is not understandable? Is it my pride that keeps me from blindly accepting this? I want to know the mystery of godliness. I want to understand His ways. Why did God allow me to have this longing?

Ephesians 1:9-10
And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment- to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

There it was: a hint, a glimpse, that God wanted me to understand his ways. It is God’s will that Christ be the way- the One, that brings God and mankind together again. And we, according to this verse, can know this.

Isaiah 53:10-11
Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many and he will bear their iniquities.

God is all powerful. He could save the world in any way He saw fit. And He saw fit that it be the sacrifice and torture of His only Son.

1 Timothy 2:5-6
For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men.

Jesus is fully God and fully man. Mankind can look upon him and claim him as a sacrifice from humanity to God. God looks upon him and sees the holiness of Himself, sacrificed for mankind. And God and man are brought together through the perfection of this sacrifice of Jesus. Both God and man find his sacrifice an acceptable atonement for sin.

For me the agony of the cross is sufficient to move me to repentance. I look on it and am ashamed that my sin is significant enough to cause this suffering. I am truly sorry for the anguish I have caused Him. I am moved to turn from my wickedness and become totally a slave to Christ. Thank God that He knew what I needed to move me towards Him. How sorry I am that Calvary is what it took.

A Trip to the Throne

This week in Bible study, we've been studying "the joy of moral freedom". While "filling in the blanks" I was caused to ponder the role of bitterness in my sin. The author said this:

The hurts of the past and our refusal to forgive those who have wronged us provide fertile ground for bitterness to flourish. Bitterness, left unchecked, makes us more apt to succumb to- or even pursue- sensuality (sin) and to subconsciously justify it in our mind, on the basis of how deeply we have been hurt. Bitterness is like poison; it defiles. Forgiveness is the only antidote. You cannot hold on to harbored hurts and pursue purity at the same time.

I never really thought I had much of a problem with bitterness. (You know, I say things like that a lot; don't I? This might be a problem!) Anyway... back to bitterness! I never thought I had much of a problem there but the more I delve into it, I find that bitterness has been at the root of most of the major, heartbreaking sins in my life. It's as if because I'm nurturing that pain, I seek out opportunities to sin to kill the pain. Why on earth does my brain work that way? (Here, insert true shock, frustration, and confusion!) Why would someone believe that sinning would kill pain?

In the related scripture (Hebrews 12:15-17), Paul describes how Esau, who was focused on his physical pain of severe hunger, hastily traded his birthright (with it's associated blessings) for a single meal. A single, short lived, comfort from the physical pain. A single sin rooted in self absorption with life long consequences. His blessing would never be restored. And how many single, self focused, bitterness encased sins have taken their toll on my life and blessings?

God assures me that obtaining His grace is the answer to avoiding the root of bitterness and falling prey to the temptation to sin (verse 15). This amazing thing called grace enables me to live a life that will please God. I can no more live a "good Christian life" on my own than I could save myself from eternal death; both receiving and living that life are dependent on God's grace. It is God's grace that enables me to live a life without bitterness. He promises that where there is sin (i.e.: bitterness), His grace is there in even greater amounts to conquor it (Rom. 5:20-21). Jesus lived a life without bitterness yet he can relate to my desire to hold on to my pain for he was tempted in the same way all of us are tempted.

So then, I will approach the throne of grace with confidence, with Jesus there as my high priest, so that I may receive mercy and find grace to help me in my time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

Wanna come?