What The World Needs Now

 

The Bible teaches that all of us sin, all of us are sinners. There are no exceptions to that in human history, except Jesus Christ, and for a time Adam and Eve. The term “Sin” has always been misunderstood and misused, including its use by so-called believers. Mostly, if we give it any thought at all, we’ve come to think of “sin” as individual acts, particularly acts more heinous or obvious. Some even believe “sin” is a term created by arrogant “Christians” wanting to have one-up on the rest of the world. Being better than someone else is definitely a human problem – pride, selfishness rolled into that issue.

Biblically, “sin” isn’t just a thing or an act. As I have written of before, sin means missing the mark, God’s mark to be specific. God sets the bar high and none of us can reach it. Not one.  For instance, we’ve all committed some act that misses the standard set by the 10 Commandments. We miss the mark because we are impaired, broken. That impairment is Sin with a capital “S”. We have a nature that prefers to go our own way, do our own thing, regardless of our Creator’s standard for us. The Bible says “All have sinned and fall short.”  We all miss the mark.

Non-believers take great pleasure at watching believers mess up. The tabloids are full of pastors who have been found out doing something awful. The pleasure comes from believers wanting non-believers to think they are indeed “sinless”. A lot of energy is given to covering up acts of sin, so a believer presents themselves as ‘better than’. But sin usually finds its way out of the cover-up and into the light. Then, “A-ha! Hypocrite!”

On the other end, some believers have taken up crusades against sins they believe somehow taint them as well as those practicing the acts. They have leveled their lances particularly at LGBTQ+ and Abortion. Apparently those are “sins” that must be legislated against because they hurt us all. They seek legislation that will ban these “acts” and protect us from ourselves.  God gives us choice, crusading Christians do not. 

When asked, ‘What gives you the right to judge us?’ these crusaders will claim the Bible. But I believe that they are wrong. Jesus was pretty harsh on those who judged another’s sins, missing their own, going for the speck in another’s eye while missing the plank in their own.  

I know I write about this a lot. I do so without apology. We are all sinners, whether we believe it or not. The whole point of Christianity isn’t so those who claim to be Christians can be superior to the rest of the world because “they are forgiven.”  The whole point of Christianity is that every person who has ever lived is a sinner in need of a savior. Christ died on that cross 2000 years ago to forgive us all, by taking the blame for all our sin. That’s the Bible’s claim about Christ. He died once for all, no exceptions. In His death, all were forgiven. That means all of us, believers or non, were forgiven 2000 years before we ever committed a sin. Those today who believe that claim are not any less sinner than those who refuse it. They have just accepted the gift of grace provided on their behalf long before they were born; a gift they did nothing ever to deserve.

Christianity isn’t about good deeds. It isn’t about being a good person. It isn’t about being sinless. It’s about accepting God’s gift of Jesus’ sacrifice.  That acceptance still leaves believers sinners. But, if they allow God to work in them, they can be less apt to do acts of sin and more apt to do good things and be a better person.

Lost in this silly, sin “crusade” is the ability to see people as individuals, not labels. The ability to see a woman in extreme need because she finds herself pregnant and alone. The ability to see a young person struggling to find out just who and what they are. The ability to see a person of a different color, perhaps not a citizen of our country, seeking a better life. All of these people are God’s creations, just as much as you or I. None of them deserve our indifference, our distain, even our hatred. All are sinners just like us, in need of God’s grace and forgiveness. Many of them are blocked by crusading Christians barring them from seeing God’s grace in Jesus, seeing only the unforgiving faces of people claiming to be Christian.  As a friend of mine once said, “I know Jesus can’t love me because the people who love Jesus don’t love me.”  What an awful incrimination against those of us who claim to know Christ. We should be open and welcoming to everyone. We should respond to people like Jesus did, with open arms.  The only people Jesus ever spoke to harshly were those religious leaders who sound a lot like judgmental believers today.

Once we accept that we are all sinners, every one of us, and that we still have the desire to sin even after accepting Christ’s gift, we can begin to accept one another, love one another, as Jesus did when He died on the cross for us all. If God was willing to die in our place, regardless of what direction sin took us, shouldn’t we be willing to give our lives to those still in search of a savior?  Maybe it’s time to stop crusading against our pet sins and start loving the people around us, so that when they see us they see Jesus’ great love for them.