Condemn the sin and live a new life in Jesus
Disavow poor framing in the exercise of compassion
The sins of Christians look just like any other sin. We don’t necessarily appear to be retaliating against a holy relationship within the Body of Christ. When Christians sin, though, we join with the world. In a very real sense — a frightening recognition of our participation in evil — we too often prioritize our worldly relationships over our relationship with God.
Memorial of Saint Martin of Tours, Bishop
Wisdom 2:23-3:9
Luke 17:7-10
Christians recognize temptations for what they are, because we are sinners. Some of us have decades of experience. We realize, eventually, when we have fallen for that which we know is sin.
We are sons and daughters of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus, and temples of the Holy Spirit; we belong to God amid a throng of fellowship. A community that sins and then calls out for repentance. We need to repent because we’re sinners. Rotten fruit can look good to eat until you examine it.
Aligning with God’s wisdom comes with greater discipline than aligning with other wisdoms. We know we are “made” perfect. Except for a few rare individuals, we are not made perfect here. God’s will and direction for us provides great delight and spiritual comfort. Still, we sin.
God formed man to be imperishable;
the image of his own nature he made them.
But by the envy of the Devil, death entered the world,
and they who are in his possession experience it.
Other people operate from a different foundation of faith. Our citizenry to God is not the same as our citizenry to country, to religion, and/or to some other global entity. Christians step into a holy relationship, extremely personal to God and attached to the fellowship of believers. Our religion is the gathering of us, not some behaviour modification. Ours also is not just a legal contract, a ritualistic process, or a philosophy. Christians are deeply and eternally bound to God.
As gold in the furnace, he proved them, and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself.
The sins of Christians look just like any other sin. We don’t necessarily appear to be retaliating against a holy relationship within the Body of Christ. When Christians sin, though, we join with the world. In a very real sense — a frightening recognition of our participation in evil — we too often prioritize our worldly relationships over our relationship with God.
Bondage to Christ means to turn our lives over to Him. We bind up our will to his will. It’s quite a complicated thing, in reality, but the gist of the decision means that we believe God’s will is the better thing. We turn back to him more immediately as we grow in faith. We choose to follow God’s leading, and not our own.
The “more immediately” notion is telling. We hope to progress in our faith as God molds us. That means we’re likely not aware of much of the sinfulness that needs attention until it rises to the top of our minds. We work on ourselves with a steady sense of frustration, constantly relieved that God loves us anyway.
A lot is involved there, obviously, like hearing God’s voice, agreeing to belong to a loving community of faith that isn’t always so loving (mainly because its members are like us), and trusting that God will repair and restore everything.
We can argue, and we do, that some of the sinful behaviors condemned by our faith are “not black and white.” For instance, one argument says that compassion is more important than a strict rule, which is a poor framing of the exercise of compassion. Compassion applies comfort to the consequences of evil’s damage. It does not condone evil. It addresses the victim’s circumstance with love.
Some call condoning a minor infraction a slippery slope, when it’s simply a poor application of attending to someone’s pain.
Several believers waffle on the sin of divorce or plead that we allow active homosexual partnerships. Even more believe that abortion is a valid option for pregnant mothers. The proper assignment of categorizing a faulty marriage (annulment) aside, repentance calls for reparation when possible. When impossible, the sin lives, but the sinner is cleansed. The sin of sexual relationships outside of marriage is not solved by pasting a marriage certificate on a sinful union, or sticking a new certificate on top of one we already signed up to live. And to complete the notion of misplaced compassion, aborting a human being is never logical, even if one thinks that mercy allows it.
The issues of sin aren’t addressed by changing the parameters of sin, but by restoring the sinner. In fact, the more egregious our sin, the closer to God we become when we condemn the sin and live a new life in Jesus.
That’s because the closer one sits at Jesus’ feet and listens to the Holy Spirit, the more one tends to agree with the Church’s identification of holiness and sin. Life seems complicated no matter which way you go, but after you take a bite out of unexamined rotten fruit, the yoke of Jesus is the lighter burden.
Whoever loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we will come to him.