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4 Reasons Sin is Better than Legalism

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legalism

You might be surprised to learn what is the biggest threat to Christianity.

Despite what you might hear from some churches, It’s not gay people.

Despite what you might hear from some politicians pandering for votes, it’s not democrats (or republicans). Not Obama either!

Despite what you might hear from some preachers, it’s not Muslims.

Despite what you might hear from some men, it is not women preachers.

It’s not greed or gluttony. It’s not sports. It’s not Hollywood. It’s not Wall Street. It’s not Russia or China.

No, the biggest threat to Christianity is the one that is probably present in all of the lives and congregations which say the things above, and which Jesus primarily concerned Himself with during His ministry.

The biggest threat to Christianity.

I’ve written on this before, but I’m doing so again because legalism is such a threat that I am firmly convinced that if we had to choose between self-righteous religious legalism and committing sin, we should choose sin every time.

Why? Here are four reasons:

Legalism is the Worst Kind of Sin

legalismIt’s doesn’t look like sin! But at it’s core, legalism fosters pride, arrogance, judgmentalism, and self-righteousness.

So in other words, sin is better than legalism because at least sin admits it is sin. Legalism is still sin, but masquerades as righteousness. That makes legalism not only sin, but sinister as well.

Legalism is of the Devil

Literally. Satan is a legalist. We often think that Satan temps us to sin, but I think that sin is only “Plan B” with Satan.

Satan’s primary goal is to turn us into legalists. Rather than turn someone into an outright sinner, Satan would much prefer to have everyone think they are completely obedient to the Laws of God, and are here on earth to get others to obey God also.

Satan wants us to think that because of our obedience to the law of God, we are making God happy. That if we can just conform our lives to a set of rules and behaviors, then we are right with God.

If you gave Satan a choice between an army of religious legalists and an army of Satan-worshiping anarchists, Satan will choose the religious legalists every time. Religious legalists do more damage to the cause of Christ than any anarchist has ever done. Worse yet, religious legalists perform their evil in the name of God, which makes it infinitely more evil.

If you sin, and sin blatantly, at least you will recognize you have sinned, and can fall before God in repentance and confession. God would rather have this than self-righteous, devilish legalism.

Legalists are Far from the Kingdom

Jesus said that tax collects and prostitutes were closer to the Kingdom of God than were the legalistic religious leaders of His day.

The same thing is true today. So called “sinners” know something about themselves and about God which no legalist will ever understand. “Sinners” know that they are sinners and that if God loves and forgives them, it is not because of anything good or Godly in themselves, but is purely out of God’s grace.

Though legalists always pay lip service to grace, they don’t actually believe it. Though they may believe that they were originally saved by God’s love and grace, they believe that God’s continuing love and grace for them is based on their own personal godliness and holy lifestyle.

But since life in the Kingdom of God is based on understanding God’s love and grace, then people who think they are living in the Kingdom according to strict observance of law are not actually living within the Kingdom.

Again, those who the world considered “sinners” know that if they are to be accepted by God, they can depend on nothing but God’s unmerited grace. This is the position in which we should all approach God, but as long as a person thinks they are obeying God, they will never approach God begging for mercy and grace.

legalismYes, Jesus said that “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20). But Jesus was not calling His followers to become more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees. He was saying that when it comes to personal righteousness, you have to be more perfect than the scribes and pharisees, which is impossible! Therefore, don’t even try! Fall upon the grace, mercy, and love of God instead.

Legalists Are Blind

The last reason sin is better than legalism is because no legalist ever believes they are a legalist. This is partly what makes this sin so insidious. While most sinners know they are sinners, no legalist ever recognizes their legalism.

Instead, they are “standing up for truth!”, “defending God’s righteousness!”, “calling on people to return to God!”, “living as salt and light!”, or some other such phrase. As such, they are blind to the true condition of their hearts, and believe themselves to be champions of the truth and defenders of the Gospel, but in reality, they are whitewashed tombs, the blind leading the blind.

In a strange turn of events, the sinner who can see God’s ways and God’s love and God’s forgiveness is better off than the legalist. The legalist, seeing only his own self-righteousness, thinks that in order to gain God’s love, everyone needs to be as righteous as he is. The sinner however, knows without a doubt that he can never attain that level of righteousness, and so despairs of ever achieving God’s love. They are left with beating on their chest and saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” which is what God wants anyway (Luke 18:13).

So how can you know if you are a legalist? Tomorrow I will write about 10 Signs You Might be a Legalist.

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You may think God hasn’t forgiven you for that sin. But you’d be wrong. Here’s why…

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Forgiven and forgivenessLots of people have some some of secret sin in their past (or in their present life) which they think is so bad, God could never forgive them.

Well, they’re wrong.

If you think you have committed a sin which God cannot forgive, let me tell you…. God has already forgiven you for this sin.

And yet He still wants you to confess and repent of this sin. Why? So He can forgive you.

Confused yet? That’s because there are lots of confusing statements in the Bible about forgiveness.

On the one hand, forgiveness seems unconditional and free (Col 2:13).

However, there are other verses which seem to say that we will not be forgiven unless we confess or repent of our sins (1 John 1:9).

A few passages indicate that we can lose forgiveness simply by not showing forgiveness to others (Matt 6:15). So does this mean that even if you confess our sin, we may not be forgiven of it if we fail to forgive others?

Then, there is apparently a sin which will never be forgiven, no matter what (Matt 12:31-32).

And of course, there are the confusing verses which seem to indicate that certain human beings have a special power or ability to forgive others (cf. John 20:23).

Finally, there is the issue of what forgiveness actually accomplishes. Many believe that in order to go to heaven, we must be forgiven of all our sins. Therefor, if any of our sins remain unforgiven due to one of the conditions of forgiveness listed above, does this mean we end up in hell?

I cannot begin to address all these texts in this post, and even if I did, there would be dozens of other similar passages which would demand explanation as well.

So instead of trying to explain every verse about forgiveness, let me try to briefly summarize what the Bible says about forgiveness and why there is so much confusion surrounding this concept in the church today.

What the Bible Says about Forgiveness

One of the biggest reasons there is so much confusion about forgiveness is that there are three Greek words used in the New Testament for forgiveness, but they often (though not consistently) get translated as “forgiveness” into English. For my own study of Scripture, it often helps to know what kind of forgiveness is in view.

Charizomai Forgiveness

The first kind of forgiveness is charizomai. It is what I think of as “God’s unconditional forgiveness.” This makes sense, because it is based on the word charis, which means “grace.”

Charizomai refers to the removal of guilt, but not necessarily the removal of consequences. Charizomai is God’s free pardon (cf. 2 Cor 2:7, 10; Col 2:13). As such, charizomai is offered freely, to all, with absolutely no conditions.

we are forgiven all our sins

This kind of forgiveness is a free gift of God to every single person on earth, emanating purely from God’s love and grace. In this way, you have been forgiven of every sin, no matter what.

Aphesis Forgiveness

The second kind of forgiveness is aphesis. It is best to think of aphesis as release. It often is used to refer to the release of a financial debt or burden, but is often used in the sense of gaining liberty or freedom.

Aphesis, however, is usually not without condition, so in this way, it is different from the unconditional charizomai forgiveness. Aphesis is usually connected with repentance, meaning that aphesis does not come unless there is repentance.

This makes sense when we understand that sin enslaves us and puts us in bondage. If we do not repent of our sin, that is, if we do not turn away from it and turn back toward God, how can we gain freedom, liberty, or release from it? We cannot.

But note that even if we do not gain aphesis, we still have charizomai from God. He freely forgives us out of His grace, and calls us to repent so that we might also gain aphesis. If we do not, He still loves as forgives us (charizomai), but we will continue to experience bondage and enslavement to sin.

Apoluo Forgiveness

Then finally, there is the third kind of forgiveness, which comes from the Greek word apoluo. Apoluo is based on the Greek word luo, which means “I loose.” So apoluo is to be loosed, or set free. This word is nearly indistinguishable from aphesis, and may be nearly synonymous. There may be some small shades of differences, but nothing worth noting in this post.

So How Does This Help Christians Learn to Forgive?

you are forgivenFirst of all, we need to understand that we are forgiven, freely, by God’s grace, of all our sins, no matter what. You have the charizomai of God whether you confess your sins or not. You have charizomai for your sins whether you are Christian or not.

As far as God is concerned, your guilt has been removed from you. Your sin is no longer an issue with God. I have written about this previously, and so will say nothing more here.

However, we all still struggle with the consequences of sin in our lives and in our relationships. How can we fix this problem? This is where most of the teaching in the Bible about forgiveness comes in.

Aphesis forgiveness and apoluo forgiveness have absolutely nothing to do with whether or not a person goes to heaven when they die. Aphesis forgiveness and apoluo forgiveness are about whether or not we live in bondage and enslavement to sin here and now. They are about whether or not we destroy our lives, our health, our marriages, our family, our finances, our jobs, and pretty much everything in our life.

God does not want us to live our lives surrounded by destruction, addiction, and enslavement, and so He encourages us to confess our sins, repent of our sins, purify our lives and in so doing, gain release, freedom, and liberty from sin and the damaging consequences of sin.

God encourages us to forgive others, because often, that is the only way we can gain release to the bitterness and resentment we hold in our hearts toward them. Until we forgive others we cannot gain the release of forgiveness for ourselves.

You are already Forgiven, so Forgive to be Forgiven

That subtitle sounds like gibberish, right? But from a biblical perspective it is true. You already have the free charizomai forgiveness of God, completely free of charge. So in light of this free gift of forgiveness, it would be wise to give aphesis and apoluo forgiveness to others so that you can experience the release of aphesis and apoluo forgiveness in your own life.

Study Forgiveness on Your Own

I encourage you to embark on a study of forgiveness of your own. Find some sort of Greek-English parallel Bible, and whenever you see the words “forgive,” “forgiven,” or “forgiveness” in Scripture, take a few minutes to look it up and find out which kind of forgiveness is in view.

By doing so, you will be encouraged. God is not dangling your sin over your head as a way of threatening you with eternal punishment in hell. No, He has already forgiven you of all your sins, past, present, and future.

However, God wants more for you than to just have your guilt removed from you; He does not want sin to reign in your body; He does not want sin to rule over you, to destroy you, to ruin your life, your health, your finances, and all your relationships. He wants you to experience freedom and liberty. But for these, there are conditions and steps that must be met…

I encourage you to develop in your thinking about forgiveness. There are different kinds of forgiveness, with different conditions to receive the various kinds, and different consequences and results from each. Learn to distinguish which forgiveness is which, and your Bible will make a whole lot more sense.

Why Did Jesus say, “My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?”

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why have you forsaken me?A reader recently sent a a series of questions about the experience of Jesus on the cross. I have answered most of the questions in previous posts (since the list below). In this post I will address the question about what Jesus meant when He said, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Here is the question the reader originally submitted:

I am a believer, but I am troubled by an atheist’s questions. I was talking to an atheist the other day, and he said that God doesn’t know what it’s like to lose a son because he knew all along that Jesus would rise in three days, so he only lost him for the weekend! He also questioned that if God is Jesus, why did he beg to be saved from the cross when he was in the garden? Also, shouldn’t Jesus already have known he would rise again in three days? Why did he ask God, “Why have you forsaken me?” Wouldn’t he know that he’s only going to be dead three days?

Since this is such a complex set of questions, I am answering them in four posts:

  1. How to Answer Questions of Atheists
  2. 2 Traditional Explanations for How God knows what it is Like to Lose a Son (both of which I reject)
  3. 2 Ways God Knows What it is like to Experience the Death of a Child
  4. Why did Jesus say, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

The first three posts covered most of the issues, but there are two main questions left.

First, why did Jesus beg to be saved from the cross when He was in the garden? Second, why did He ask God, “Why have You forsaken Me?”?

That first unanswered question I have already attempted to answer in a previous post where I talked about the phrase, “Let this cup pass from me.” Though my interpretation of that statement by Jesus in the garden is somewhat controversial, it seems to make the most sense out of the context, and Jesus’ attitude leading up to the cross. I do not think Jesus was praying for a way out of the pain and suffering; His love for humanity was too great for that. No, I think Jesus was praying for strength to face the pain and suffering He knew He was about to bear.

So I am not going to write anything more about that here.

Let us focus instead on the statement of Jesus from the cross where He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Why Have You Forsaken Me?

This question from Jesus on the cross is found in Matthew 27:46-47 (and in Mark 15:34), and is a quotation from Psalm 22:1. It is asked by Jesus as He suffers on the cross, and faces the sin of the world being poured out upon Him.

why have you forsaken meThe main point of the question above is that since both Jesus and God the Father knew that God would raise Jesus from the dead (Matt 12:40), in what sense what Jesus forsaken by God?

In other words, if being forsaken means to be abandoned, rejected, despised, how could Jesus say, “Why have you forsaken me?” when He knew that He would be raised from the dead, and therefore, not ultimately forsaken, that is, not really abandoned, rejected, or despised?

The answer, I think, lies in understanding to some degree the eternal relationship that has existed between God the Father and God the Son.  Understanding this relationship, and the cry of Jesus from the cross, leads to a shocking idea (for me, anyway) about the experience of Jesus on the cross.

His Eternal Relationship seemed Broken

Since God the Father and God the Son have existed in an eternal relationship, they had never been separated by anything for any length of time in any way, shape, or form. Nothing had ever come between them the way of will, desires, intentions, thoughts, or purposes.

We humans have a difficult time grasping this, since we don’t know what it is like to live in such a relationship at all, let alone for all eternity. All of relationships, even those that are the most loving, have areas of discord and misunderstanding.

But God the Father and God the Son (along with God the Holy Spirit) always lived in a perfect relationship and perfect unity.

Yet when Jesus went to the cross, He took the sins of all people, throughout all time, upon Himself. He bore our sins in His own body (1 Pet 2:24). He who knew no sin, became sin for us (2 Cor 5:21). He became a curse for us (Gal 3:13).

I believe that from the perspective of Jesus on the cross, it seemed that God had “abandoned” Him to sin.

Though sin cannot damage or pollute God in any way, sin does cause a separation between Himself and the sinner. It appears that when Jesus took the sin of all people upon Himself, a separation came between Him and God that had never before existed.

So when Jesus cried out, “Why have you forsaken me?” it was because He was experiencing a brokenness in His relationship with God the Father that they had never before experienced. Yes, He knew that God had not finally and ultimately forsaken Him, and He knew that He would be raised again in three days, but the cry of Jesus from the cross is not about those things, but about the separation from God He experienced for the very time in all eternity.

why have you forsaken meThis experience of separation from God elicited the cry of Jesus, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” He had never experienced this separation before, and though He knew that He would be reunited with God in a short while, the pain and agony of the separation was caused this cry of despair from Jesus.

But had God truly forsaken Jesus? I don’t think so. I don’t think God did forsake Jesus any more than God forsakes us. Jesus was not a God-forsaken God.

The God-Forsaken God?

I might be going out too far on a theological limb here, but there is a part of me that thinks it is only here on the cross where Jesus finally experienced the pain and turmoil of what it is like to be a sinful human being separated from God. Though Jesus came as a human being to rescue us from our sinful plight and in so doing, experienced almost everything He could as a human, He never really experienced the fearful and agonizing predicament of being separated from God by sin.

It was only when He took our sin upon Himself on the cross, it was only when the crushing despair of being separated from God came upon Him, that He finally felt what we humans have lived with since we were born. The pain and anguish we feel every day, the suffering of being separated from God that has so numbed our souls, the despair and fear that drives us to live as we do, was felt for the very first time by Jesus on the cross when sin came upon Him.

His cry, “My God, my God, Why have You forsaken Me?” is not the cry of the God-forsaken God, but is the heart cry of every single human being on earth. It is the cry we have been voicing since the beginning when we fell into sin.

And finally, God came to earth in Jesus Christ to experience this separation for Himself. And when He did, the suffering is so great, He cries out, “My God, my God, Why have you forsaken me?”

Do you see? This is not just the cry of Jesus on the cross. This is the cry of every single person on earth.

It is our pain, our fear, our hurt, our despair, finally being given a voice. It is the cry of God fully entering into our broken condition and fully experiencing the sense of separation from God that sin causes, and crying out in anguish and despair over this sense of loss, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”

When we feel that God is ignoring us, or has abandoned us, Jesus knows what we feel, and He cries out to God on our behalf, “Why have You forsaken Me?”

When we experience fear in the night about our future, Jesus knows what we feel, and He cries out to God on our behalf, “Why have You forsaken Me?”

When bad things happen in this world, and we wonder what God is doing about them (if anything), Jesus knows what we feel, and He cries out to God on our behalf, “Why have You forsaken Me?”

When we feel despised and rejected, abused and slandered, misunderstood and forgotten, and we wonder why God seems to be doing nothing to protect and defend us, Jesus knows what we feel, and He cries out to God on our behalf, “Why have You forsaken Me?”

The separation from God that Jesus experienced on the cross is the separation from God that humans experience every day. Certainly, since He is God and since He bore every sin of every person, He experienced this separation to an infinite degree. But still, the cry of Jesus from the cross, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?” is not just the cry of Jesus, but is our cry.

It is the cry of every single human being on earth. Jesus was giving voice to our pain and anguish.

Do you feel abandoned by God? Jesus knows what that feels like. Do you feel forsaken, neglected, forgotten, and overlooked? Jesus knows what that feels like. Do you feel like God has turned His back? Jesus knows what that feels like.

But here is the thing…

The original question was “How can Jesus say ‘Why have you forsaken me?’ when God did not actually forsake Him?”

Yes. And just as Jesus felt what we all feel to be forsaken, so also, none of us have been forsaken, just as Jesus Himself was not.

Though you may feel abandoned by God, you are no more abandoned than was Jesus. Though you may feel forsaken, forgotten, neglected, and overlooked, these things are no more true of you than they were of Jesus. Though you may feel unloved, this is no more true of you than it was for Jesus.

Though Jesus cried out, “Why have you forsaken me?” He was NOT forsaken. And neither are we.

This is a feeling that Jesus experienced, which is a feeling we ALL experience.

And this feeling does not come because we are forsaken, but because of sin. Sin has separated us from God; it has not separated God from us. This is why God had to reconcile the world to Himself (1 Cor 5:19). He didn’t need to reconcile Himself to the world, for He never left or abandoned us.

Though we may feel forsaken, we are not forsaken any more than Jesus was forsaken.

God did not forsake Jesus, and God does not forsake us. The presence of sin in our lives makes us feel like we are forsaken, like God has abandoned us, forgotten us, or left us alone to suffer and die, when in fact, God is right there all the time, holding us, loving us, and crying with us over our pain.

It is sin that makes us feel separated from God, and this is the feeling Jesus expressed on the cross, and is one reason Jesus went to the cross – to take our sin and bear it away into death so that we can see that God has not left us, has not abandoned us, and has not forsaken us, but has fully entered into our pain, our suffering, and even into our sin, so that He might show us how much He loves and cares for us. This truth is explained in more detail in my new book, The Atonement of God.

I am not sure if this answers the reader’s question, but it does help explain what Jesus meant when He said, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?” It also helps us understand that on the cross, Jesus understood the feeling of being a sinful human being, and it is for this reason that we can trust His promise that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Heb 13:5).

The cross of Jesus is CENTRAL to everything!

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God Knows What it is Like to Experience the Death of a Child

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A reader recently sent in the following questions about the death of Jesus as the Son of God and how it affected God the Father. Specifically, they wanted to know if God knew what it was like to experience the death of a child. Here is the question:

I am a believer, but I am troubled by an atheist’s questions. I was talking to an atheist the other day, and he said that God doesn’t know what it’s like to experience the death of a child because he knew all along that Jesus would rise in three days, so he only lost him for the weekend! He also questioned that if God is Jesus, why did he beg to be saved from the cross when he was in the garden? Also, shouldn’t Jesus already have known he would rise again in three days? Why did he ask God, “Why have you forsaken me?” Wouldn’t he know that he’s only going to be dead three days?

I am answering these questions over the course of four blog posts in the following order:

  1. How to Answer Questions of Atheists
  2. 2 Traditional Explanations for How God knows what it is Like to Lose a Son (both of which I reject)
  3. 2 Ways God Knows What it is like to Experience the Death of a Child
  4. Why did Jesus say, “My God, My God, Why have You forsaken Me?”

So in this post, I will look at two ways that God does indeed know what it is like to experience the death of a child, and in fact, knows better than we do what it is like.

God Knows What it is Like to Experience the Death of a Child

I believe that God does know what it is like to experience the death of a child. In fact, I believe that God knows better than anyone else what it is like to lose a child.

We can see this in at least two ways.

1. When Jesus Became Sin, God’s Eternal Relationship with Jesus was Shattered

God did not experience the death of a child the same way that humans do. When Jesus died on the cross, it is true that God did not experience His death the same way that human parents experience the death of their son or daughter. But this does not mean that there was no loss on the part of God, that there was no pain, that there was no suffering.

death of a childQuite to the contrary, it could be argued that in the death of Jesus, God experienced greater loss, greater pain, and greater suffering than do human parents.

2 Corinthians 5:21 says that on the cross, Jesus became sin for us. He took our sin upon Himself. While it is nearly impossible to understand exactly how this happened or what occurred, we can know that whatever it means, it would have caused excruciating anguish and torment for both God the Father and God the Son. We have lived with sin our entire lives. We have become accustomed to it. We cannot imagine an existence without sin.

But God is holy, righteous, and good. He is love and light. What then must it mean for Him to knew no sin to become sin for us? What must it have been like for God to see the holiness of His one and only son get exchanged (or covered, or extinguished, or whatever verb best fits with your theology of the atonement) with the totality of all sin ever committed by every human in the history of the world? We humans cannot imagine the suffering and the torment that this must have caused.

Worse yet, the sin that Jesus bore caused a rift to open in His relationship with God the Father. The sin caused a separation. This is why Jesus cried out from the cross, “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?” This is the cry of God the Son experiencing for the first time in eternity a separation from God the Father. The suffering and sacrifice was so great, that it shattered the eternal relationship between God the Father and God the Son. This also is something we humans cannot imagine. We are pained when separated from our loved ones whom we have known for several years, or several decades. But God the Father and God the Son have existed eternally in relationship with one another. Sin caused them to be separated.

And while both God the Father and Jesus the Son knew that Jesus would rise again, there was a pain in their separation that can never be matched by the most painful loss which any human being can experience.

Look at it this way: Though plants are “alive” (in some sense), they do not experience pain or loss when one of their “baby” plants die. Up the creation spectrum a little bit, we have animals. Many animals parents (though not all) do experience pain or loss when one of their children dies. But going up the creation spectrum to the top, it seems that humans experience the greatest pain and suffering when we are separated from our children by death.

But God is infinitely “higher” than humans in every way, and therefore, must experience an infinitely greater loss at the pain, suffering, and loss of His Son, even though He knew He would be reunited with His son shortly. The knowledge of the resurrection did not dissipate the pain and suffering that God experienced when Jesus bore the sin of the world into death.

Again, think about the situation as a parent. Let us say that you knew your child was going to die, and that your child would rise again from the dead in three days. But before your child died, they would have to experience the most excruciating and painful torment ever imaginable. Would their pain and death be any easier for you to handle, even knowing that they would rise again in three days? No, I do not think so.

How much more so for God? Though the situation was a bit different when God lost His son than when parents lose their children, it can be argued that God knows the pain of suffering and the torment of a lost loved one in deeper ways and with greater agony than do human parents. God does know the pain of losing a child. Since death is the antithesis and complete opposite of everything that is “God” for Jesus to die would be the greatest and more terrible experience of the death of a child, especially when the child is the Son of God.

But there is another way that God has experienced the death of a child.

2. Every Person is One of God’s Children

We sometimes seem to forget that every single person is (in some sense) one of God’s children. Even those who rebel against God and who never return to Him are viewed by Him as His lost and wayward children. He looks after each and every person on earth throughout history. He looks earnestly down the road every day, hoping that his wayward children will return to Him.

And when each and every person dies, whether young or old, God suffers through their death. Death, remember, was not God’s plan or desire for the world. When any person dies, it wrenches the heart of God. Death torments God day and night.

When we suffer over the loss of our loved ones, God suffers with us.

When we cry out in pain over the death of a child, God cries with us.

When we scream until we have no voice and sob until we have no tears, God continues to scream with a voice that never cracks and sob with eyes that never run dry.

When you suffer over the death of a child, a parent, a spouse, a sibling, a friend, or any loved one, know that God suffers also. However much you suffer over the loss of your loved ones, God suffers more. He knows what it is like to experience the death of a child, because all people are his sons and daughters. He “gave birth” to us. He brought us forth. He cared for us. Tended us. Brought us up. Planned for our future. Laughed and danced and sang with us.

death of a childAnd when death strikes, God is there, grieving and mourning over the death of yet another child.

God knows what it is like to lose a child, not just because of Jesus, but because He experiences the pain of death whenever any person dies.

I think that more than anything, when a person is going through intense pain and suffering and they cry out to God in anger, despair, or frustration, while they do not really want theological answers or Scripture quotations, one thing they do want is to know that God is with them in their pain and suffering, and that He is suffering right along with them.

This idea that God suffers when we suffer is one way to encourage people to see the love and care of God in our lives, even when we experience the death of a child or face any other type of pain in life.

The cross of Jesus is CENTRAL to everything!

Transform your life and theology by focusing on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus:

Fill out the form below to receive several emails from me about the death and resurrection of Jesus.

(Note: If you are a member of RedeemingGod.com, login and then revisit this page to update your membership.)

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Your 3 Greatest Sins

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What are your three greatest sins? Do you know?

If you had to tell someone right now about your three greatest weaknesses, your three greatest sins, what would you say?

This is not a hypothetical question. I once got asked this very question in an interview. During the interview, they asked me what I thought were my 3 greatest strengths. I told them that I thought I was analytical, creative, and a disciplined student of Scripture. (The interview was for a ministry position).

We talked about some of these strengths of mine for a few minutes, then they asked what I thought were my three greatest sins.

Gulp!

greatest sinsI have done some doozies in my life, but I barely knew the two people who were interviewing me, and there was no way I was going to share some of the worst things I have ever done!

So I asked for some clarification. I said, “Do you really want to know the three greatest sins I have ever committed?”

They clarified that no, they didn’t really want the dirty little secrets or the deepest, darkest betrayals. Instead, when they wanted to know my three greatest sins, what they really wanted was three areas of my life in which I constantly struggled with sin.

Frankly, that was easy. I think that if someone is in a growing relationship with Jesus, they are pretty in tune to the areas in which they constantly struggle. This interview of mine was years and years ago, but I am pretty sure the greatest sins I struggled with then are the same sins I struggle with today. I deal with pride, judgmentalism, and selfishness. I think I am better than I am. I am critical of other people not being better than they are. And I primarily think of myself and my needs.

There are numerous other areas of sin as well, but these are some that I constantly struggle with.

Oh… I didn’t get the job… maybe I was too honest about my sins.

A few years ago, however, I was interviewing a man for a position at the place where I did get a job. He and I were having a decent conversation, and I decided to ask him the questions which I had been asked. I asked him about his greatest strengths. He had many that he could list. Then I asked him about his three greatest sins or his three greatest areas of weakness. Here is what he said:

  • I love people too much, and this sometimes causes me to not care of myself as much as I should. 
  • I serve people too much, so that I sometimes neglect my own needs.
  • I love the Bible too much, and this causes me to stay up late at night reading the Bible and memorizing Scripture.

I just about broke out laughing! These weren’t sins! These were just three more good things.

But I now knew at least two of his greatest sins: pride and lying. Ha! Of course, maybe I am just saying that because of my own pride and judgmentalism.

Anyway…. if you have the courage (or you can leave an anonymous comment), write about some of your greatest strengths and weaknesses in the comments below. But remember, I am not a priest, so I cannot offer forgiveness! Only God does that.

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: , , , , ,

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