The rain was coming down
outside so I took my morning cup of joe to the front porch to take in the
moment. As I surveyed our yard and the beauty of what I saw, my mind drifted
back to another time, twenty years ago…
The year was 1995 and I was
at a pastor’s conference. I was about to start my new role as the senior pastor
of a church. I had been using the time at the conference to re-charge my
batteries as I prepared to transition into fulltime ministry.
During one of the morning
sessions, the keynote speaker said something that shook my theology.
“You will never
know how much God loves you until you sin.”
Wait; what did he just say?
He repeated it again; “You will never know how much God loves you
until you sin.”
Wait; that can’t be right!
The man shared that he had sinned
and had to step out of ministry for a season. And it was through his time of
restoration that he realized that he actually felt closer to the Father and
that he understood the love of the Father even more…
“You will never
know how much God loves you until you sin.”
Twenty years later, as I
stand on my front porch and the rain coming down jolts me back into the present
reality, I realize just how true those words were.
As I thought about how good I
really have it, I poured out my thanks to the Father for how He has provided
for me; my great wife and children and grandchildren and friends and co-workers
and my possessions etc., etc., etc.
Standing on the porch I am
also aware of my own sinfulness and tendency to go back to straddle the line
between right and wrong; sometimes seeing just how close I can come “without
really sinning”.
It is in moments like this
that I realize that I hadn’t deserved any of this; this was pure gift from One
who loved me first. My provision (physically and spiritually) was because of His
work; His love, not something that I have done or earned!
“In Him we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His
grace.” (Ephesians
1:7)
In fact when I look back at
my life, much like the speaker twenty years ago had communicated, it was during
the times of struggling with sin that I actually felt closer to God compared to
the times when I had it all together. Whatever that means…
“You will never
know how much God loves you until you sin.”
The apostle Paul came to a
similar conclusion about God’s love for the sinner and the grace He bestows on
us and then asked a rhetorical question that naturally comes up;
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin
that grace may abound?” (Romans 6:1)
His answer
is a resounding; “Certainly not!”
In fact Paul
is referring back to something he had written earlier in his letter to the
church in Rome when He told them that it God’s kindness and gentleness and
goodness that leads us to repentance.
“Or do you despise the riches of
His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of
God leads you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4)
And so I drink my coffee watching
the rain coming down and let the gratefulness of what He has done for me, in
spite of me, continue to be the impetus to continue to say “yes” to His
prompting to “take the way out” when temptation comes my way. (see 1
Corinthians 10:13)
Grateful that He loves a
sinner like me.
"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while
we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)
All Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright
© 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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