Sin, Repentance, & Redemption

Recently some things came up in conversation and I began to consider the implications behind them.  I'm really not going to get into details behind the conversation, but the conversation got me thinking about some things.

When a person is caught up in sin, regardless of what it is, it seems like a good idea at the time.  Sometimes you may not even realize that it's a sin.  Then you look back at it and years later in conversation, you realize how crazy sin is, and how you live with the consequences of it even after it is over.

Sometimes I feel people get caught in a rut, and don't see a need, to get out of the position they are in (in relation to sin).  So they just continue down the path that they are on.  The whole notion that "I'm not good enough to come to Jesus" and "I'm already too far gone to change."

There are two sides to this situation, just as there are two sides to most things.  There is the side of the lost person and the side of the Christian person.

In the side of the Christian person, dealing with sin, whether it be habitual or one time, it must be taken care of.  Otherwise you are sinning more (if that makes sense).  The reason why I say this, is because as a follower of Christ, we have realized (to some capacity) that we are sinners in need of a Savior.  However we are not allowed to freely sin.  As quoted from Romans 6: 1-2
"¹What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ²By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?"

The passage continues through verse 14.  Here's the thing though, we are called to no longer live in sin.  The moment we become followers of Christ, we are called to become more like Him, we are called to begin a process of daily growth towards becoming more like Christ.  As followers who should know this thing, if we continue in sin the same sins we were in formerly in a habitual manner, then we are using cheap grace, which is what Paul is cautioning against here in Romans 6.


A person who is not a follower of Christ has different expectations because they do not understand what it's like.  Ephesians 2:8-13 talks of how we are saved by grace through faith.  It continues on to say it is not what we do that saves us, it is our faith.  However in James it also speaks of how faith without works is dead.   What you need to gather from this though is that everyone is saved by grace.  Grace is mercy, clemency, pardon as stated from the linked  dictionary above. 

People get caught up in "Getting right" before they come to God.  The thing is though, Jesus did not say "you're healed, now get cleaned up and then follow me"  no he said "Go, and sin no more"  Jesus doesn't require you to be perfect in order to follow Him, what he does require is a will to change.

 

The beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair

So within the last week I've been able to see Bluetree, Mike Keahbone, Charlie Hall, and Robbie Seay Band.
Seeing all of these fellow seekers brought out alot of great things for me.  I believe though that the coolest of all of these things was what came out of the time of reflection that I had.

This was thinking about the concept of grace.  Grace is something that I really don't know if any human can truly grasp the fullness of grace.  As humans showing grace and mercy isn't something that really seems to come natural to us, we tend to lean more on the showing "discipline."  We would rather people see a consequence for their action than to see mercy and grace overwhelm their transgressions.

This is where the concept of Christ and His love comes in and intercedes.  This is the part that as humans I believe we have a hard time grasping. Mainly this is an issue for us, because we ourselves can't grasp fully forgetting about wrongs a person has caused towards us or someone else, and then actually allowing them a full blown second chance.

All of this is general statements though, I'm sure people out there fully grasp grace, but I for one can't really get it, and the thing is I have been covered with grace just as much as anyone else.  The amount of grace that I have in my life baffles me, and that I suppose is the part that I don't grasp about it, the unconditional grace.  Even though I am a sinner, I am covered by grace, regardless of if it is a sin that happened four years ago, or one that will happen in four months.

I feel like I have rambled this entire time, anyway here is the video for where the title has come from: