Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Peace with Sin
Writing at Common Grounds Online, military chaplain Tim Fary writes of some of his experiences in Iraq and says this:
It is so easy to rest in grace that we forget to be at war with sin. In this piece the chaplain addresses big stuff - murder, covetousness, the stuff we always talk about, but even that represents only one level of truce with sin. Many people in this world are able to master behavioral things - but sin affects us much more deeply. We are not called merely not to murder, we are called not to even consider it, think about it, or even have emotional states that could lead to it. That is radical.
We set our sights so low when it comes to this kind of stuff, as individuals and as institutions. How many times have I sat in meetings of various sorts and heard, "It may not be best, but what else can we do?" Is such a statement not making peace with the fallen state of our existence. The truth of that statement notwithstanding, where is the disappointment with, or even rage at, it's necessity?
Grace does not mean we get to take our eyes off of the goal. In fact, as we grow in grace, our distance from that goal should pain us ever more deeply.
We may be forced to reach a compromise with the fallen state of creation from time-to-time, but I do not think we can ever afford to do so with any sort of contentment, or resignation. Such truces must be ones that we constantly look to break at the first possible opportunity. How easy it is to make such a truce and then walk away.
We are at war with sin. We should never, ever forget that.
Related Tags: sin, war, peace, truce, prison, grace
The thing about that experience that has always struck me is how at peace the young man seemed to be with his sin. (I don’t know his heart.) When ever I think of him, I ask myself what sins have I called a truce with? What are the areas of my sanctification that I’ve waved the white flag, given up on, and made peace?As the chaplian concludes, such truces are indeed evidence of God's infinite grace - but I simply could not get off the question, it is startling in its implications.
It is so easy to rest in grace that we forget to be at war with sin. In this piece the chaplain addresses big stuff - murder, covetousness, the stuff we always talk about, but even that represents only one level of truce with sin. Many people in this world are able to master behavioral things - but sin affects us much more deeply. We are not called merely not to murder, we are called not to even consider it, think about it, or even have emotional states that could lead to it. That is radical.
We set our sights so low when it comes to this kind of stuff, as individuals and as institutions. How many times have I sat in meetings of various sorts and heard, "It may not be best, but what else can we do?" Is such a statement not making peace with the fallen state of our existence. The truth of that statement notwithstanding, where is the disappointment with, or even rage at, it's necessity?
Grace does not mean we get to take our eyes off of the goal. In fact, as we grow in grace, our distance from that goal should pain us ever more deeply.
We may be forced to reach a compromise with the fallen state of creation from time-to-time, but I do not think we can ever afford to do so with any sort of contentment, or resignation. Such truces must be ones that we constantly look to break at the first possible opportunity. How easy it is to make such a truce and then walk away.
We are at war with sin. We should never, ever forget that.
Related Tags: sin, war, peace, truce, prison, grace
