Sin: I've Got Another Confession To Make

I think one of the nicest things about Christianity, one of the most merciful things, is the leeway offered to sinners. 'Coz, let's face it, who out there has never sinned? If you've never committed a single sin, seriously, post a comment here because I'd love to hear from you.

To most people, I look pretty OK on the outside. That's neat, but it isn't who I really am. Well, that's not true. It is who I am, but there is more. I'll admit that I'm better than I was, but God still keeps showing me new little things that are still between Him and me. And that's without mentioning the big things that I've always known about.

There are certain things about me that need to be ironed out. For instance, often while hanging out with friends I'll slip into a mode of speech and/or conversation that fails to do justice to the pure and utter holiness of my God. And I'm not as honest as I should be. I also struggle with anger. Often when I'm angry, it's to such a degree that I actually scare myself with either what I'm thinking, or with how close I've just come to hurting someone I love. I have only a meager level of self-control that never fails to get me into strife. I'm prone to a hypocritical kind of judgment, irrespective of my various rants on the self-same topic. I can be too harsh on different aspects of my own religion, not unjustly, because I do see a lot of hypocrisy, but often I'll say things intending to stir up dissent, or purely for the 'shock factor'. I too often flaunt my own freedom when it comes to different kind of media. Some Christians cannot cope with heavy metal music, or Harry Potter, or fantasy books in general. And I am one who can see that these things, with suitable discernment, are not harmful at all - yet I choose to parade my freedom around less (for lack of a better word) open minded Christians, often to their own detriment. At times my wit can be a curse as much as a blessing, and has gotten me into trouble on many occasions. Often I can be hurtfully harsh. Often it is merely subtle. I will make snide comments about people that only some 'get', and the one who they are directed against is left feeling uncomfortable, but with no idea why.

These are all areas I need to work on, because clearly I am not in anyway as 'good' a human being as I could (or perhaps 'should') be. But the great thing is that Christianity is not a religion of works. Salvation is not attained by God's score of how 'good' you've been. Because in His books, we all deserve to go to hell. Even one little sin, even one little 'white lie', is enough to damn us for eternity.

Enter Jesus Christ.

The whole point of Christianity is that this bloke, God's son, was sent to Earth to die in our place. He took the price of our sin, so that we don't need to face that eternal hell. All we have to do is accept God's gift of perfect grace, clearly portrayed for all men through the gospels. Once we have attained that, all this sin doesn't matter. God counts it as absolutely nothing, and it is not held against us.

That raises a question though. What happens if we sin after we've been saved? Obviously, we're going to. How does God deal with this? He accepts our confession of sin. When we recognize our failing, and confess to Him, He pardons us so that we come out from the effect of that sin. He forgives us. This obviously means that we shouldn't just sin 'coz God will forgive us anyway. The bible even addresses that very question. It says, (Romans 6:2), that since we have 'died to sin, how can we live in it any longer?' You've left behind old ways by accepting Christ's death. You can't just keep on living like that.

But I just love that about Christianity. We aren't supposed to live in sin any more, and if we do fail, because we are sure as hell going to, God's ready to accept our apology and move on. That's pretty awesome for a guy like me, who would be really screwed if salvation worked on a basis of 'yeah bro, you've been good enough. Come right on in the Pearly Gates.'