But God forgives sin; he doesn’t excuse it.
Ephesians 4:21-24 Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.
Colossians 3:10 [see 3:1-17] Put on your new nature and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.
I’ve enjoyed watching a bed of ferns at my daughter Valerie’s house this spring, and wish I had taken pictures of each stage. After frost killed last year’s growth and the dry stems were cut away, the patch looked dry and dead, not at all pretty. Before we traveled in March, tiny green shoots appeared. In April, the ferns looked like balls, with a few beginning to uncurl. Now, the ferns look like this, fresh and lovely in their new life. An analogy for me of renewal and transformation.
Our pastor in Brazil, invited to speak in another church one Sunday, asked his adolescent son to tell him about the sermon Vini had heard at home. Having spent the sermon time messing around with his friends in the balcony, Vini scrambled for an answer and finally responded, “It was about sin!”
“What did the preacher say about sin?” asked Vini’s father.
“He was against it!” replied his resourceful son.
God is too. Because sin harms his beloved children and it harms those around us. Colossians 3 lists the kinds of attitudes and actions God opposes: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, greed, idolatry, anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, dirty language, lying …. (v. 5-9).
In stark contrast, the new nature Christ offers looks like this: tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, love, harmony, peace, thankfulness, wisdom (v. 12-17).
Which of these takes more strength and courage? Destroying something beautiful is always easier than creating it. Anyone can blow something up, including someone else’s reputation.
Still, God forgives our sin, when we name it, confess, and turn away from it. Jesus gave his life to make this possible.
God doesn’t, however, rationalize, gloss over, condone, excuse, or justify sin, any more than a loving parent would laugh and pat the head of a child getting into trouble, or an oncologist would ignore a cancer in order to not cause pain and distress to his patient. Nor does God say, “It’s OK to do wrong as long as you achieve good ends.” He says, “Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant.” (See the rest of that passage too, Galatians 6:7-10.)
Forgiveness isn’t the same as excusing. It’s costly. It says, “This is wrong, and deserves punishment. I accept the punishment in your place, to free you from sin’s power over you.” That freedom often comes, though, with discipline, through experiencing the consequences of what we’ve done.
During our long trek through the world of transplant, I saw a patient recovering from lung transplant outside the hospital, smoking.
In those years, people waited two to three years for a lung transplant. While waiting, around 20% of them died. (See the statistics here.)
So you can imagine my feelings when I saw this patient. I felt it as a punch in the gut, as a slap in the face of each person still waiting for a lung, or for two lungs, as well as to the family of her donor. As total disregard for the preciousness of the gift she had been given.
Is God unkind and unreasonable when he asks us to honor and nurture our new nature, the new abundant life his Son died to offer us?
P.S. This article prompted some of the thoughts in this post. I have no idea how true the author’s premise is, but the question he addresses is one I hear often from puzzled observers.
Create in Me, The Acappella Company
Debra Kornfield 