Evangelicals are fond of
the ideology that everything is covered by the blood of Jesus. There’s no sin that his sacrifice can’t atone
for. And this is a good thing, because
it’s true. We evangelicals know that the
wages of sin is death; and the death of Jesus, offered once for all, is the
payment accepted on our behalf. The Scriptures
abound with this truth. What I don’t
find is a sliding scale of which sin is worse than another. I find no formula for:
Sin X requires 3
drops of the blood of the Lord, while Sin Y requires 2 whole pints.
Once you were alienated
from God and were enemies in your
minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has
reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in
his sight, without blemish and free from accusation
~ Colossians 1:21-22 {emphasis mine}
I cannot find this prescription
in Scripture because it is not there.
The truth is that each and every sin is first and foremost an act of
rebellion against Almighty God; secondly, it is an act against His creation (self,
other person, or nature) of which He has all proprietary rights. I say this, because what follows is going to
bother some people. Some folks who have
worked very hard to maintain as righteous a life as they could, sinning as
absolutely little as possible; people who may truly be able to say, “follow me
as I follow Christ.”* But the truth is
that no matter who you are, what you or have not done:
Each. Sin. Cost. Precisely. the Same.
Don’t
you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t
fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or
commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are
thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none
of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.
Some of you were once like that.
But you were cleansed; you were made
holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for
you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave
to anything. ~1 Corinthians 6:9-12 {emphasis
mine}
Any shade of sin cost
Christ everything.
And He paid it. For Love.
For Hope. For Healing. For Restoration.
If you have not accepted
Christ’s sacrifice on your behalf, dearest one, I pray that you that do. For there is nothing that you can do; no benevolence
great enough to erase the sin-DNA coursing through all humanity, no deed good
enough to tip the scales of righteousness in your favor. There is only the blood of Jesus.
If you have accepted this
gift, beloved, I am rejoicing for you.
For as one prone to fallenness, but for the grace of the Father, the
love of the Son, and the presence of the Spirit, I am so delighted that you and
I have been saved from ourselves and our sins.
From here, followers, we
must remember that every sin cost
Christ the same. So that we when look at
others, we cannot call them by the label their sin mars them with. For in Christ, there are no murders, no thieves,
no fornicators, no liars, no abusers, no drunks.
In Christ, there are
only the redeemed saints.
Saints who, while
rejoicing in their new identities, must always recall from whence they came.
Once you were dead because
of your disobedience and your many sins.
You used to live in sin, just
like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers
in the unseen world.
He is the spirit at work in the
hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way,
following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our
very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.
~Ephesians 2:1-3 {emphasis mine}
An abortionist, forgiven by Christ, is the same as the
little boy or girl who gave their lives to the Lord at 4, only ever lying to his/her mom. A terrorist, redeemed by Jesus, is the same as the missionary, bringing God’s
Word and love to people the world over.
A pimp, a prostitute, or a john, saved
by the Lord, is the same as Chuck Swindol, Beth Moore, or Billy Graham.
At the foot of the
cross, we are all the same – sinners, in desperate need of our Savior.
This truth, dear friend,
frees us to minister with Love. Because
we know, we are intimately familiar with, the sin ghetto in which all humanity
struggles – until accepting Jesus’ rescue.
The truth of who we were, joined with the truth of who we are now lets
us embody our new identity as made-righteous-in-Christ, so that we may shower
His grace and love upon the lost and hurting in this dark world. It allows us to use our hands, our words, and
our hearts on behalf of God’s kingdom in the lives of the people He came to
save. The people who are the same as you
and I were, not so very long ago. The
only thing that separates us now is our acceptance of the grace and love of our
Lord, Jesus Christ. May we bridge that
gap with our outpouring of His love into the desperate and hopeless world, to
which we have been called as ministers of Christ’s grace.
~Amen
*{Before venturing
further, I will say that I am so very thankful for people who live this way. May you continue to be a beautiful light
pointing to the Christlikeness towards which each of us should strive!}
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