Sin - and Guilt

When I sin, I tend to get down on myself. Many do.

But what use is this self-condemnation?

It is a rational reaction; however, that doesn't mean it is wholesome or moves me toward repentance.

Getting down on myself amounts to saying, "I can do no better than that," which can drive me more and more away from God.

It can also lead me to set extremely high expectations only to, inevitably, fall short.

Either way, self-loathing or unreasonable expectation can be incredibly harmful.

Why is this reaction so negative?

It reinforces my instinctive belief that I am not really saved by grace through faith; that somehow what Jesus did for me could not be enough for MY sins. No, I need to prove that I deserve his gift. When we consider it later, we recognize the notion is laughable, but in the moment, many of us give way to it nonetheless.

So how do we combat this way of thinking?

First, we need to recall the truth.

The truth is that Jesus died so that we could be saved by grace through faith and have eternal life. He died precisely because we didn't, and never will, deserve it. His sacrifice on the cross is a gift that we need to accept fully, without any thoughts of "making it up to" God. There is no way we can ever begin to deserve this gift; yet we constantly try to do just that.

Second, we need to make sure we have proper thinking.

We need to thank God for this gift. We also need to realize that God knows we won't be perfect. That's why for us to be able to come into a relationship with Him, it was necessary for Him to send Jesus to atone for us. We should ask God to help us understand the truth and move us away from getting down on ourselves.

And finally, in order to move in this direction, we need to understand why we strive to remove sin from our lives.

We will not ever live sinless lives; that's something we need to remember. Yet God wants us to obey him, so let us devote ourselves to following him out of gratitude for the gift He has given us. When we stumble, let us sincerely ask forgiveness and keep moving along in our walk with God. He has already granted it to us. And we cannot forget about the Holy Spirit, through whom we are sanctified over time. The Spirit transforms our hearts and minds so that we want and can do what God calls us to as we move along in our walk with Him. In fact, when we look back, we find that any true desires we have to follow Him, He graciously gave to us by the Spirit!

Every time I let my guilt become the main thought, and in doing so focus on myself rather than on Him, I miss out on a great opportunity to experience God's grace.

Food (thoughts from feeding the homeless)

I see it in their faces. I hear it in their voices. They are so grateful for the food being given to them, yet at the same time, they are embarrassed to be asking for help.

One man said to me, "I'm just trying to do the right thing," and trailed off, leaving me standing, waiting for him to elaborate a few minutes later.

He asked me if we had "food to nourish the soul," and that gave me an interesting thought.

When we give help to others and tell them the good news of what Christ has done for us, isn't that exactly what we're doing?

Are we not tending to their souls as well as their physical bodies; showing them the love of Christ; proclaiming the good news in at least our actions?

And moreover, why do we have needs in this life?

I can think of no other primary purpose than to show us how we need to trust God to provide for us.

If we were lacking in nothing, would we not be inclined to simply live our lives independent from others, believing we were above the need for assistance - and, even more, for grace and salvation!

So when we fail to receive all the blessings we would like to have or think we should have, we should reflect instead on God's great mercy in giving us any blessings! We should stop acting like we deserve everything we have, because the simple fact is that we deserve none of it.

And when others need help? We should reach out to them when possible, in wisdom and grace that come only from the Spirit, in an effort to show just a bit of the love that has been heaped upon us.

EDIT:

After speaking with a friend, I realized there are a few things I must point out.

First, I do not mean to downplay that Jesus says we are worth favor and blessing. For the purposes of this post, I emphasized that we should be thankful for the blessings He has given us (and also, not simply because we are blessed, but because He is worthy of all praise!). Perhaps I will explore that later.

Also, our suffering is not a necessity for God to show His goodness, but God uses our suffering for His glory and ultimate good. Suffering results because we live in a fallen world; however, God works through that suffering and pain.

Thus the causal statement is tweaked - our needs show us that we need to trust God to provide for us, rather than needs being introduced in order that we might see. Our fallen state has introduced suffering and need that can only be fulfilled through God.

Apocalypse

While there was much media hype about Harold Camping's prediction that the world would end on October 21 of last year, few people know that it was actually the third time Camping inaccurately predicted the end of the world.

In fact, there was never any possibility that Harold Camping - or anyone, for that matter, would be right about when the world would end.

Thus Camping fell into one of two specific modern ways of dealing with this issue that are not particularly helpful.**

The first view is more measured - and perhaps more unhelpful - than the second. This view lays out "Biblical evidence" as to why Apocalypse is near, and sometimes is even so bold as to declare a date for the Apocalypse (or several, as in the case of Harold Camping).

This view presumes to know more about the topic than we rightly can know as humans. As image-bearers, God has given us the ability to know, but our knowledge is limited. We should not presume to say more about our place in the universe than we have the right to - acting as if we can know exactly when and how the world is going to end is doing exactly that.

Even more, there is firm biblical evidence that clearly tells us that the end will come without warning. 1 Thessalonians 5 (verse 2; more text below) tells us, "for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night." I will explore more fully some of the themes in this passage in addressing the second view.

Death (Return to the Blogosphere)

After a hiatus of almost four years, excepting one brief post, I may be returning to the world of blogging. While I don't recall posting things of this nature before, I have a few stored up, so I'll be easing these out.

Whether or not we realize it, people die around us every day. They die of old age, car accidents, disease, homicide. Yet rarely do we feel this ever-present reality until it strikes someone close to us.

We mourn, because death is sad. It's difficult to have people we are close to torn away from us.

But what's even sadder than someone dying is a situation where there is no hope for the people who are close to the person leaving this world.

Yes, death is a sad reality in this life, yet it's one that Jesus defeated when he rose from the dead! In Christ, death holds no power over us because Jesus reigns victorious over it.

Yet when people die throughout the world, many mourn because they have no hope or assurance. For them, death is the end of all things; the power that always wins; the result no one can evade. Therefore death is a startling, shocking, depressing reality.

For those in Christ, death is just the beginning of a glorious future where we eternally worship our Lord and Maker. That is an incredible reality we may not fully comprehend, even when it is at last before us.

All this is not to say that death is not sad - death is a part of the broken world in which we live. But through Christ our Savior, there is a joyful eternity on the other side of the grave.

A Recent Encouragement

I think it's always encouraging when I see something I have a hand in have a positive effect on someone else. For me, it shows that God is able to work through me even in my weakness - in fact, especially in my weakness - to do some incredible things.

I love a song that we sing at my church back home called "Out of the Depths." It's based on Psalm 130, and I really think it gets to the heart of how we should approach God in our weariness and weakness (lyrics are below).

I introduced this song to a group of RAs on our RA retreat, and saw some positive feedback the second time we sang it (a very impassioned response, people posting the lyrics on Facebook, etc.). There were some technical difficulties the first time we sang it, we had very little time to put together our set, and I had broken my finger and was slated to play the djembe, but God worked through all of that and reached His people. I find that very encouraging.

Out of the Depths (from Psalm 130)

Out of the depths, O Lord I cry to You

When I am tempted to despair

Though I might fail to trust Your promises

You never fail to hear my prayer

And if You judged my sin, I'd never stand again

But I see mercy in Your hands

So more than watchmen for the morning

I will wait for You, my God

When my fears come with no warning

In Your Word I’ll put my trust

When the harvest time is over and I still see no fruit

I will wait, I will wait for You

The secret mysteries belong to You

We only know what You reveal

And all my questions that are unresolved

Don't change the wisdom of Your will

In every trial and loss, my hope is in the cross

Where Your compassions never fail

So more than watchmen for the morning

I will wait for You, my God

When my fears come with no warning

In Your Word I’ll put my trust

When the harvest time is over and I still see no fruit

I will wait, I will wait for You