Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; When I fall, I will arise; When I sit in darkness, The Lord will be a light to me. Micah 7:8 (NKJV)

Part 2 – Path of Grace

Go to PART 1

We put sins on a sliding scale. We say, “I’m not so bad… At least I haven’t done the sin that sits further up the scale from anything of the ones that I’ve done…” and vice versa.

Sin means to “miss the mark, to err and make a mistake, to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honour…” I found these descriptions in Strong's Concordance. The first definition it lists for sin is actually “to be without a share in.” It left me floored and full of thoughts. A share in what? Miss what mark? I mean straight away we can prattle off a list of sins that violate the commandments, but there seems to be an underlying factor here.

The practical outworking of sin is seen in the choices we make. Lying, cheating, abusing, stealing, etc. Maybe at its heart, sin is a removal or an ‘opting out’ of walking down the path of God. Choosing not to participate in this love and grace kingdom that God established and Jesus championed? And we participate (or not) in it, whether we are aware of it, embrace it, reject it or are ignorant of it. God is interwoven into all that is, whether we believe it or not.

When I fall, when I wander from the path, or when I willfully reject it, missing the mark, removing myself from the sharing of grace; sin is the result. It always separates and isolates, breeding fear and shame.

Micah is describing how Israel had found itself wandering from the path, missing the mark, fallen.

But sin is not a qualifying factor of God’s love. It reaches beyond, around and through our shortcomings, isolations and failures.

Our sins may knock us down but never out of the reach of grace.

The ‘Cross of Christ’ was never fully about obliterating ’sin’. As long as we have free will, sin will always be a part of our life. The more we focus on sin, the more present it becomes. We try not to sin, but we sin, and we feel guilty for our sin, then we hide our sin… and sin and sin and sin.

The cross is about love. Sin is no match for it. When you fall, you will rise again. Just as Jesus did. When stuff happens to you that knocks you to your knees, or you find yourself stumbling around in the dark after wandering from the path, you will rise again.

Love puts you back on your feet.

“Most of us were taught that God would love us if and when we change. In fact, God loves you so that you can change. What empowers change, what makes you desirous of change is the experience of love. It is that inherent experience of love that becomes the engine of change.” – Richard Rohr.

Go to Part 3 – Through the Beauty and Mess

[vcex_image_grid columns=”3″ pagination=”false” thumbnail_link=”custom_link” link_title_tag=”true” custom_links_target=”_blank” overlay_style=”title-category-visible” columns_gap=”5″ img_hover_style=”fade-out” image_ids=”20934,20935,20937″ custom_links=”https://itunes.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1239768002?pt=118656308&ct=blog%20footer&mt=8,https://www.pktfuel.com/dailyemail,https://www.pktfuel.com/support” img_height=”350″]