“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” (I Peter 2:24)
There are two aspects of this that I want to discuss. The first if the idea that we are supposed to die to sins and live for righteousness. People like to ask (with hostility in their voices) if you can’t be a _________ (name your favorite hated sin) and be a Christian. The answer is “No, you can’t be a _______” and be a Christian. One or the other has to die. Jesus didn’t die so we could go on doing the things that required that He come here to die.
That being said, some people die in horrible car wrecks or terrorist attacks, (nearly) instantaneously killed. Other people die over the course of years. Some battles with sin are over in the blink of an eye. Others require a lifetime of struggle. The same goes for living for righteousness. Sometimes, there is a massive change in a person’s life. More often, it’s a slow process. We need to make room for the process without declaring the sin to be OK.
The second is forgiveness means dying, and it is what allows us to die to sin and live for righteousness. I’ve read that forgiveness means letting go of the pain. Another way to think about it is that forgiveness involves no longer building one’s life around the injury, no longer responding to it. Christ’s having done so makes it possible for us to do so as well. The problem, of course, is that we don’t feel dead to the sin or its temptation.
This brings us back to the question of truth. I’m afraid of spiders. I know they’re not dangerous. I know they’re afraid of the “Godzilla” standing over them but for some reason (possibly linked to my mother’s arachnophobia) I’m afraid of them. Lots of people would wisely say that I should overcome those feelings of fear (and I am better than I was.) Is not the same true of other feelings. You feel this or that. It’s as natural to you as feeling fear of spiders is to me. Does that feeling mean that the associated cause is actually any truer for your feelings than it is for my fear of spiders? Or, do you need to deal in truth as much as I do?
That being said, some people die in horrible car wrecks or terrorist attacks, (nearly) instantaneously killed. Other people die over the course of years. Some battles with sin are over in the blink of an eye. Others require a lifetime of struggle. The same goes for living for righteousness. Sometimes, there is a massive change in a person’s life. More often, it’s a slow process. We need to make room for the process without declaring the sin to be OK.
The second is forgiveness means dying, and it is what allows us to die to sin and live for righteousness. I’ve read that forgiveness means letting go of the pain. Another way to think about it is that forgiveness involves no longer building one’s life around the injury, no longer responding to it. Christ’s having done so makes it possible for us to do so as well. The problem, of course, is that we don’t feel dead to the sin or its temptation.
This brings us back to the question of truth. I’m afraid of spiders. I know they’re not dangerous. I know they’re afraid of the “Godzilla” standing over them but for some reason (possibly linked to my mother’s arachnophobia) I’m afraid of them. Lots of people would wisely say that I should overcome those feelings of fear (and I am better than I was.) Is not the same true of other feelings. You feel this or that. It’s as natural to you as feeling fear of spiders is to me. Does that feeling mean that the associated cause is actually any truer for your feelings than it is for my fear of spiders? Or, do you need to deal in truth as much as I do?
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