Bridging the (Short) Gap: God's Love for Sinners - Pt. 1
Part 1 in the 'Wretched Little Sinners' Blog Series
When my children were pudgy little babies, I used to grab their chubby little cheeks, squint my eyes, put that goofy momma grin on my face, and use my sing-songy momma-love voice. “I love you, you wretched little sinner,” I would giggle. It was usually after a diaper blow-out that cost me tubby time, new outfits (sometimes for both of us), laundry soap, and a lotta air freshener.
As they pooped everywhere and giggled all at the same time, I delivered love, recognizing they really couldn’t do anything that would make me turn them away when they needed me most. They didn’t have one concern about exploding all over me, and they accepted my love, even if I was a little offended at their insult.
Enough about diapers. That’s not the point of my story.
The moral of the story is I gave birth to little sinners.
So did my momma. So did her momma. And yours too. And every other momma in history. We all share this common thread, all the way back to creation.
Sometimes, we like to categorize the kinds of sinners that we are. Sure, we’re all garden-variety sinners, because God says we are. That one’s pretty easy, but then, we complicate it.
May I suggest that we too easily fall into the trap of categorizing sin for the purposes of our own self-worth? We might like to tidy up our lives against another’s, simply because one person’s sin seems more obvious or bigger than ours. We view our neighbors’, our co-workers’, or our child’s actions and attitudes, and compare them to our own lives. Too quickly, pride slips in, and we determine their sin is uglier than ours, and we look down our self-righteous noses on those “really lost” people doing horrible, ungodly things.
Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”
Emphasizing the dangers of pride and self-righteousness, Scripture reminds us that none of us is too far from taking a giant tumble down the hill of arrogance.
I get it. I’m a liar if I declare I’ve never been guilty of leveling up against a ‘badder’ sinner. Chances are good that, because we’ve never wrestled with anything LGBTQ+, we can deem it disgusting, vile, and unrighteous, and thereby, exact harsh consequences on a person who falls into the ‘disgusting trap’ of the LGBTQ+ world, as though all of it sits beneath regular sin as a worse one. We can even write them off because their hearts are either hard or deceived. Case closed.
Or is it?
We, as human beings, can simplify sin into things God does not like, condone, or allow. We build categories around it. We may stretch the boundaries of it, but determine that we’re still inside the lines because we didn’t push it that far. We justify we’re not that bad, and we further simplify it into those who try to obey God and those who don’t. We’re in or we’re out. Simple, right?
Scripture declares that “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23.
Shoot, I’m one of all.
We’ve read, and heard speakers and leaders declare Galatians 5:19-21: "The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God."
Whoa….lose access to the kingdom?...like prevented from being in heaven? That’s harsh, so we focus on not falling into the ‘really despicable’ parts of that verse and decide that we won’t participate in such contemptible acts. If we avoid the overtly repulsive, we can slide through if we only falter a little bit over the more insidious and less offensive terms.
As we keenly hone in on some words, and gloss over others, we quickly rationalize that God will be pleased with us for doing pretty okay on most of them. We may have steered clear of witchcraft, we may have toed the line of avoiding orgies. Perhaps we’ve never touched a drop of alcohol, let alone, ever been drunk.
I may misinterpret the complete meaning of the words, but I’m not certain that upholding one or a few principles negates having to abide by the others. I’ve been jealous more than once in my life, over some ridiculous things. I’ve been selfishly motivated, thinking only of how I might benefit from a certain circumstance. I’ve spoken the words ‘I hate so and so’, whether it’s over a former friend who’s walked away, or a national enemy. I’ve battled more than one idol in my life, and have been guilty of seeking something more than God’s best to suit my desires.
I’m not sure what all qualifies as debauchery, but I’ll bet it’s broad enough that I’ve crossed that line too. And how far is too far with sexual immorality, exactly? As I type, I battle discord with someone I love very much. That’s a lot of failure.
I guess I shouldn’t sit too high on my mighty stool of pride. How about you?
Hey!
