In other words, God was reconciling the world to himself through Christ, by not counting people’s sins against them. He has trusted us with this message of reconciliation. 2 Cor 5:19 (CEB)
GRACE – PART 1
Grace can be a gray subject for many believers. While we know that Christ paid the price for all sin, sometimes we struggle with imagining God forgiving people who display certain types of behaviour.
When we talk about sin we think of action; something somebody does to someone.
I steal from you equals I have sinned. That type of judgement is based on an action and is not actually where sin lies.
In God’s eyes sin is sin and none is worse than the other. Once the line is crossed, it’s crossed but sin is more to do with a state of being rather than a type of behaviour.
For us mere mortals living in a linear time-space (where there is a start, progression and an end) we can only see at the intersection of time we are currently at. Therefore, we see a person and judge them based off their past or present behaviour. The paradox of linear time is that we can’t see beyond the present moment to the end and so we can only make decisions based off our current and historical viewpoint.
From this limited perspective, we confuse behaviour with the force that drives it and so we label and define a person by their action and not their divine potential.
The restorative power of the cross allows God to see every person in their pre-destined potential; an eternal perspective, and therefore blots out any evidence of their old state. From the smallest lie to the most brutal murder.
The challenge for us is to do the same. And it’s always easier said than done.
The biggest problem is that in our own sin (state of being) we are humanly frail. In this condition, it can be very hard to forgive (read: behaviour as a result of our state of being) the massive destruction caused by someone’s else’s sin (state of being).
And thus the vicious cycle perpetuates throughout humanity.
TO BE CONTINUED…
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