I realize that it’s been a while since I’ve posted. It might be another long while before I post again. My summer schedule is such that when I’m actually home (not working at camp, or on missions trip, etc), I need to spend time with my family.
What will God teach me this summer? I’m excited to find out! Getting out of normal routine and evaluating my heart and life in the light of the Word, not my circumstances, always reveals flaws in myself and calls me to cling more tightly to the Cross!
Last night at church, we were studying Martin Luther. He had a very great awareness of his depravity, but was not ashamed of it. Instead, he declared it boldly, because then he was closer to realizing how great is the love and mercy of Christ!
What he meant by that was not, “Let us sin that grace may abound!” But rather, “May the knowledge of our great sin help us to stand in awe of His great grace!”
He once said to a friend, “Sin boldly.” Also a confusing statement! Was he really advising his friend to sin?????? Certainly not! But he was urging him, that when he sinned, he should admit it, because why should the Holy One die for people who are not sinners?
We are all fallen, missing the mark, completely depraved. There is none righteous, no not one. When Adam sinned, he “polluted” the human race, as it were. We are now born sinners, deserving of eternal death and separation from God.
But now, we have the CROSS OF CHRIST! Now the fallen, dead sinners are lifted up (Eph 2:5 “even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”).
Our sinfulness reveals the mercy of God as so great, beyond imagining!
Please understand that I am NOT telling you to sin with all your might! Not at all!
On the contrary, the Cross of Christ is our motivation to live a holy life! “Be holy as I am holy.” (I Pet. 1:16)
Since He has been so loving, so gracious, so merciful, so forgiving, we strive to, by His Spirit’s power, become like Him, and when we sin, we repent and then rejoice that we don’t have to pay the punishment. Jesus already has!
And so, this summer, if I don’t make it on here to post soon,
SIN BOLDLY! :) Declare yourself to be sinful, redeemed, and forgiven! And this summer, may God change us into a more perfect reflection of Himself, no matter what pruning, refining and purging it may take! Bring it on!
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