Deep and Wide
Jesus took the ten commandments and applied them to the heart. Hatred is like committing murder, lust like committing adultery, etc. They are like it because they are both sins. One is an outward sin, the other is inward. The punishment for sin, any sin - outward or inward, is separation from God because God in His purity cannot have impurity in His presence. Like darkness cannot exist when there is light, so sin cannot exist in the presence of God.
Selfishness, anger, lust, theft, bitter jealousy, hatred, pornography, gluttony, drunkenness, blaspheming, adultery, lying, disobedience. This list can go on and on. The severity (or at least the level we see it as) of this list can also go on and on. How do we cope with this? With our inadequacy? Time and time again we may fail. We make promises to ourselves and to our God, and sometimes not even an hour later we fall and fail again. Over and over this process of sinning, repenting and sinning again repeats itself day in and day out in what seems like a never-ending cycle. How could God forgive me or take me seriously when even I know that I will not be able to stop sinning? How can God forgive me when I cannot even forgive myself? How can God have hope for me when I have none for myself? I have tried. I cannot stop. I want to, that is not the problem. The problem is I can’t. I am beyond help.
I have heard this, and I have felt this way, and I know it to be a lie. I say there is hope not because hope is the only thing that can keep me going but I say there is hope because it is true. I do not say it is true on some blind faith clinging to some purpose I have failed to obtain but because it has been promised by a reliable source outside of myself.
We make the mistake of seeing things on a scale. We know that Christian salvation is through faith, not works, but we still act like it is by works. We measure how bad we are by how much we sin or how bad our sins are. For us, if a white shirt has a speck of dust on it, it is not nearly as bad as having it caked with mud. For God, perfection is the bar’s minimum. One iota of dust and the shirt is destroyed in the presence of God’s perfection. This may sound terrible, but like I said, Christian salvation is not based upon works. This is the truth that give me hope, God’s love is both deep and wide.
One sin has the same consequence as a multitude of sins just as the smallest sin has the same consequence as the highest crime humanity can commit. And Christ’s blood takes the consequence away regardless of where your sin fits into it. This is the truth that has been promised. There is no sin too great that God cannot forgive you. There is nothing in heaven or in earth or under the earth or in all of creation that could ever separate you from the love of God. And that is a fact. A promise. A foundation for hope. While here on earth we will not see ourselves sinless. We cannot fix ourselves. We cannot reach perfection here on earth, but we can see ourselves head in the right direction - and we shall see perfection - we shall see God - when because of Christ’s sacrifice, our cleansing is made complete and we are taken up into the presence of God. In the meantime we must do our utmost to head in the right direction, away from sin and toward God, we will fail, but we will also have successes. We will eventually see all things made complete in the end. In the meantime we must hold onto the promises of God and strive for growth. It is possible. There is hope. You are loved. There is forgiveness, for God’s love is deep and wide. It is fathomless.
Jared Williams
(Caveat - Do not hear me say that we cannot have forgiveness until the end, our salvation is both now and not yet complete. You could say there are stages to it. We have salvation when we first accepted Christ into our life, but we also still have to fight our sinful nature - we have been saved but we are not free from sin completely. We have the power to fight our sinful nature, but we are not yet free from it. That will come at the end, when Christ comes and calls us up into the presence of God. When our salvation is completed.)
Selfishness, anger, lust, theft, bitter jealousy, hatred, pornography, gluttony, drunkenness, blaspheming, adultery, lying, disobedience. This list can go on and on. The severity (or at least the level we see it as) of this list can also go on and on. How do we cope with this? With our inadequacy? Time and time again we may fail. We make promises to ourselves and to our God, and sometimes not even an hour later we fall and fail again. Over and over this process of sinning, repenting and sinning again repeats itself day in and day out in what seems like a never-ending cycle. How could God forgive me or take me seriously when even I know that I will not be able to stop sinning? How can God forgive me when I cannot even forgive myself? How can God have hope for me when I have none for myself? I have tried. I cannot stop. I want to, that is not the problem. The problem is I can’t. I am beyond help.
I have heard this, and I have felt this way, and I know it to be a lie. I say there is hope not because hope is the only thing that can keep me going but I say there is hope because it is true. I do not say it is true on some blind faith clinging to some purpose I have failed to obtain but because it has been promised by a reliable source outside of myself.
We make the mistake of seeing things on a scale. We know that Christian salvation is through faith, not works, but we still act like it is by works. We measure how bad we are by how much we sin or how bad our sins are. For us, if a white shirt has a speck of dust on it, it is not nearly as bad as having it caked with mud. For God, perfection is the bar’s minimum. One iota of dust and the shirt is destroyed in the presence of God’s perfection. This may sound terrible, but like I said, Christian salvation is not based upon works. This is the truth that give me hope, God’s love is both deep and wide.
One sin has the same consequence as a multitude of sins just as the smallest sin has the same consequence as the highest crime humanity can commit. And Christ’s blood takes the consequence away regardless of where your sin fits into it. This is the truth that has been promised. There is no sin too great that God cannot forgive you. There is nothing in heaven or in earth or under the earth or in all of creation that could ever separate you from the love of God. And that is a fact. A promise. A foundation for hope. While here on earth we will not see ourselves sinless. We cannot fix ourselves. We cannot reach perfection here on earth, but we can see ourselves head in the right direction - and we shall see perfection - we shall see God - when because of Christ’s sacrifice, our cleansing is made complete and we are taken up into the presence of God. In the meantime we must do our utmost to head in the right direction, away from sin and toward God, we will fail, but we will also have successes. We will eventually see all things made complete in the end. In the meantime we must hold onto the promises of God and strive for growth. It is possible. There is hope. You are loved. There is forgiveness, for God’s love is deep and wide. It is fathomless.
Jared Williams
(Caveat - Do not hear me say that we cannot have forgiveness until the end, our salvation is both now and not yet complete. You could say there are stages to it. We have salvation when we first accepted Christ into our life, but we also still have to fight our sinful nature - we have been saved but we are not free from sin completely. We have the power to fight our sinful nature, but we are not yet free from it. That will come at the end, when Christ comes and calls us up into the presence of God. When our salvation is completed.)
