Theology Thursday 04 - Sin Management

For all intents and purposes I have been a Christian for the entirety of my life. I asked Jesus to come into my heart when I was 5-years-old; that prayer at Highland Community Church was important and it meant a lot for my life. However, the decision at 13-years-old to truly commit my life to Jesus was much more important and has meant a lot more for my life. By God’s grace, I’ve never had any major falling away; for the most part I have lived my life well and have been a pretty good person. The only problem is that a relationship with Jesus isn’t necessarily about being a good person.

I know that being a good person won’t bring me eternal life, now or when I die. I could be a good person and still lack purpose; I could be a good person and still be separated from God for eternity. Yet, even though I know that being a good person isn’t what being a Christian is all about, that seems to have become the focus of my life with Christ. I’ve heard so many sermons on being a good person and I’ve given so many sermons on striving to stay away from sin that my life has been reduced to a practice of sin management. I feel that as long as I can stay away from sin and be a good person then I’m doing everything Jesus wants and I’ve got a healthy relationship with him.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s very important that we avoid sin. If we are followers of Jesus then we need to follow the example of his righteous life. Obviously we’ll never be fully free from sin until we receive our glorified bodies, but we should commit ourselves to the process of sanctification; we should seek after righteousness. But seeking after righteousness should never take the place of seeking after Jesus himself.

Sin management tries to seek righteousness without truly seeking after Jesus.

Sometimes I feel like I’ve traded a passionate love of Jesus for a passionate love of not sinning. Instead of actively spending time with Jesus, focused on his person and how he wants to transform me, I am actively spending time avoiding sin, focusing on all the things I do wrong and how I can keep them out of my life. While that kind of life may look “good,” it doesn’t exactly look like the full life Jesus promised to give his followers.

The full life that Jesus promised can only be found by truly seeking after Jesus and allowing him to transform us from the inside out. I can spend my whole life avoiding sin and trying to be good but that won’t lead to any sort of true transformation. The goal shouldn’t merely be sin management; it should be true transformation, which causes sin to lose its appeal. Sin will always have some amount of appeal and there will always be temptation, but the more time I spend with Jesus the more appealing he will become, even more appealing than the sin in my life.

We shouldn’t just seek after righteousness; we should seek after Jesus. Righteousness is the natural byproduct of actively, passionately and intentionally seeking after Jesus. In John 15 Jesus says that apart from remaining and abiding in him we cannot bear any fruit. One fruit of that time spent with Jesus is righteousness; another fruit of that time spent with Jesus is less sin in our lives.

When we sit and spend time with Jesus we see who he is.

When we actively relate with Jesus we’re better able to be who he wants us to be.

When we intentionally seek after Jesus he can make us righteous as he truly transforms us from within.

Christians use the term “relationship with Jesus” quite a bit; I’ve even used it in this post. Even though I use the term, I’m still trying to figure out its full meaning. I may not fully understand the term but I do know that a relationship with Jesus is not about sin management. The life that Jesus wants for us goes beyond just trying to avoid the bad things more often than we give into them. The life that Jesus wants for us is about being transformed and living the life for which we have always been intended. That starts with actively relating to Jesus, not just being in a relationship with him. And as we spend time with him and seek after him, sin management will fall to the background as we simply enjoy living life with Jesus and the righteousness that comes from walking with our Lord and savior.

How have you bought into the practice of sin management?

Theology Thursday 03 - Satellite Dish

My roommate, Tim, has a dog named Chianti. She’s a black lab and not the brightest dog in the world. But she’s nice and sweet, if not a little simple. Two weeks ago Chianti got bit or scratched by something on her face. It started out as just a little wound but she continually scratched it and licked it; the wound began to grow and get infected. Pretty soon, after all the attention she paid it, the wound had grown and Chianti had a big open sore on the side of her face. After a week, it wasn’t healing; it was getting worse. Tim went to the pet store and got some wound treatment spray and, the greatest fear of every dog, the satellite dish.

Chianti is not a big fan of the satellite dish. It limits what she wants to do.

She wants to scratch, but she can’t.

She wants to jump into her chair, but she can’t.

She wants to eat everything in sight, but she can’t.

She is limited in what she can do but it is for her own good. Tim knows what’s best for Chianti, even if Chianti can’t understand. And the worst part about the satellite dish was, when we first put it on, she looked up at us with the biggest puppy dog eyes. It was like she was asking us what she had done wrong. She had the face of a dog that was being punished only she couldn’t understand why. The reality is that Chianti isn’t being punished; we are just looking out for her own good because she can’t do it on her own.

Sometimes I view God’s laws and commandments the same way Chianti views the satellite dish. I see God’s laws as restricting, keeping me from doing all the things that I really want to.

If there’s somewhere I want to go, God’s laws tell me I can’t.

If there’s something I want to do, God’s laws tell me I can’t.

If there’s something I want to pursue, God’s laws tell me I can’t.

God’s laws limit me but it’s for my own good. God loves me and understands what’s best for me even if I don’t. I may not give God puppy dog eyes, but sometimes I wonder why he’s keeping me from doing all of these things that I want to do, all of these things that seem so fun and natural; sometimes I feel like the Christian life is a punishment. God isn’t actively punishing me, though; he’s actively loving me. God is looking out for my own good because I can’t do it on my own.

Humanity is stained with sin and, left to our own devices, we’ll just sit there and scratch it and lick and pander to it. Sin is like an initial wound that can grow, it can get infected and consume our lives; eventually, if left unchecked, our lives will just become one big, open sore. God’s laws keep us from scratching and picking at the wound. Ultimately, the wound can only be healed by the grace and forgiveness of Jesus Christ brought through his death on a cross and resurrection three days later. But God’s laws help us to keep the wound in check while we wait for Christ’s return and our new glorified bodies, free from the stain of sin.

God knows that humanity is stained with sin; he knows we’re a rebellious lot. The things God tells us to do and not to do help provide boundaries in which we can live the lives that God originally intended for us. God didn’t intend sin; it wasn’t in the original plan. Sin has so broken humanity, though, that we think sin is normal and righteousness is the abnormality. Sin is unnatural; righteous lives lived according to God’s will, that is natural, that is what we were created for. And the satellite dish of God’s laws help us to catch a glimpse of the natural life God intended for us.

God is not punishing us.

God is not keeping us from those things which seem fun and natural.

God knows what’s best and he’s helping us live the lives for which we were created.

When have God’s laws helped you live the life for which you were created?