If I were to willingly kill a man, we would all (probably; hopefully) agree that I had done wrong. This wrong would be against US laws and I would, at the very least, be given some time in prison to satisfy my guilt. This wrong would also be against God’s law. What must I do to satisfy my guilt? The answer to this question greatly varies among those who call themselves believers and followers of Jesus.

The Bible makes it clear that when Jesus died, He died for the sins of the world (see John 1:29; 6:51; 1 Timothy 2:6; Hebrews 2:9; 1 John 2:2). The Bible also makes it clear that His death atones for only those who will believe in Him (see John 1:11-12; 3:16; 5:24; Romans 8:32; Ephesians 5:25). In other words, the death of Jesus is sufficient enough to pay for every sin ever committed, but the death of Jesus only satisfies the guilt of those who believe in Him. So, what must I do to satisfy my guilt?

On the one hand, we have what I will call confessional theology. This is the belief that we must actively confess our sin. This can look like an individual directly confessing their sin to God. Or it can look like a group of people confessing their sins to each other. Or it can look like an individual confessing their sin to a priest. Taken to an extreme, this sort of lifestyle can be destructive: we all continue to sin and this obsession with getting clean can overwhelm.

On the other hand, we have what I will call forgiveness theology. This is the belief that we were forgiven for all of our sins on the cross. All the sins I have committed and all the sins I ever will commit have already been forgiven. This typically looks like an individual thanking God for the forgiveness of a sin instead of confessing the sin and asking forgiveness for it. Taken to an extreme, this sort of lifestyle is also destructive: we can see our forgiveness as a license to sin whenever we want. This extreme turns into gnosticism.

Where should we sit? Where you sit, I leave to you to decide. Seek out an answer for yourself. Where I sit, I will tell you.

There is nothing my children can ever do to make me not love them. No matter what wrong they do to me, I will love them. I certainly can be saddened by their actions, but my love is fixed. I have also made up my mind to forgive them for whatever they do. I have forgiven them for the wrong they have done in the past. I have also forgiven them for what they will do to me. This is a decision I have made so that when they apologize and ask for forgiveness I can honestly say to them, “I already forgave you.” This is not some sort of self-righteous behavior to impress them. It is an act of my love for them. Does this mean my children need to no longer ask for forgiveness from me? What is more important to me than them asking me for forgiveness, is them being sorry. I want my kids to agree with me that a wrong has been committed. I want my kids to feel sorrow over their wrong action. This is exclusively because I want them to think about their actions. My kids make hundreds of choices each day and I want them to think about their choice and choose the right one.

I am obviously making a parallel from my kids to my life. I believe in a God who loves me so much that He has already forgiven me for the wrongs I will commit. He hates the wrongs I commit, but He has forgiven me already. I do not need to ask forgiveness from God for the wrongs I commit; He has already forgiven me. I do need to be remorseful. This is not a symbolic act, though. This is real remorse. And this remorse is not required for my forgiveness. I need to be remorseful for my own sake. I need to be remorseful in order to live more like Christ.

Romans 6:11 – So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Romans 6:17-18 – But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

Please read all of Romans 6. And reflect on your relationship with God. Focus less on trying to get clean; you already are. Focus more on becoming a slave of righteousness; on living more like Christ.

-z

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This entry was posted by zac on Thursday, April 12th, 2007 at 8:34 am and is filed under Weekly Jib Jab. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.