Be a Sinner

Great God, why have You decided to cast sufferings upon Your children? For our minds are often too insignificant to understand such things. Though we do not always understand why You have chosen for some to suffer, may You still grant us comfort when it is our appointed time. May Your sovereign hand guide us through the thorn bush. As we try to escape, may we not do so frantically and hurt ourselves further. We know that You are good when life isn't and we know that You are good when life is. We pray for our brothers and sisters who are ebbing away from the faith, that You would not let them fall but would grant them endurance. In Jesus Christ name, Amen.

Think of the worst sin you've ever committed. What was it? Lying? Stealing? Cheating? Adultery? Murder? Pornography? Drugs? Alcohol? Hate? Lust? I know that many people view all sins as equal (I am one of them), but for now, let's use our human standards to think of the worst sin we have committed; because God knows we make our own standards up. After you have thought of your worst sin you have committed, what do you feel? Despair? Hopelessness? These are a few words that come to mind when I think of my worst sins. I feel like a couldn't undo what has been done, and this is true. However, I can do what needs to be done: change.

We were never called to be perfect people. We were called to desire Christ with our whole being. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer says "You are a sinner, so be a sinner, and don't try to become what you are not. Yes, and become a sinner again and again every day, and be bold about it." What? Did you read what he just said? He said be a sinner and be bold about it. But listen to the what he says next: "But to whom can such words be addressed, except to those who from the bottom of their hearts make a daily renunciation of sin and of every barrier which hinders them from following Christ, but who nevertheless are troubled by their daily faithlessness and sin?" Bonhoeffer is saying you are a sinner, so be a sinner. Admit when you sin and move on with your life. Though these words will be easily twisted by the self-decieved Christian. They will think "Oh, I can do whatever I like and be bold about it". This is not the point Bonhoeffer is making. Only to the man who has the genuine spirit of God within his soul, can this point be made and offered as a loving testimony to the joy of Christ's sacrifice.

Here is the reality for those who have the spirit of God dwelling within them: "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39). Forget about your sins and move on. My child, by the grace of God you have been forgiven, so move forward eagerly in your faith and pursue the calling God has put on your life. No longer dwell on that which reveals the very fact that you need a savior, but dwell on your savior. Jesus didn't die so you could continue feeling guilty about the things you have committed, he died so that you could be released from being a slave to those things. May the power and grace of God overwhelm you today my friends and may the love of God grant you perseverance and hope.