It is so easy to be other than we ought to be. Have you noticed that? And once we become other than we should have
been, it is so easy—and so necessary—to find a way to justify where and why we
went wrong.
As Alexander Pope said, “To err is human; to forgive,
divine.” We can’t help it! The Apostle Paul admitted as such: “. . . all
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God . . .” (Romans 3:23 NRSV). Thank you, Mr. Pope and Apostle Paul. We do what we ought not to do and become what
we ought not to become because we are human beings who can’t help that we are
sinners. It’s not our fault! It’s God’s fault.
We are caught in a never-ending circle of grace. We sin; God forgives; and the circle is
complete. The more we sin, the more God
can and must forgive. Isn’t it wonderful? We are merely being who we are, and God is
being whom God is, and all is right with the world. Grace abounds. Sin more and more grace is dispensed. Hallelujah and Amen!
Thus endeth the lesson.
Amen.
Well, there is one tiny other matter. Paul does say that we all sin. It is, as Mr. Pope suggested, human nature to
err. Paul, however, had more to say; and
Mr. Pope may well have meant more than we take from this oft-quoted line.
Paul states that sin has dominion over us only because we submit
ourselves to sin. We let sin have its
way with us. The solution is to change
who has dominion—who rules us. “Present
yourselves to God . . . and present your members to God as instruments of
righteousness. For sin will have no
dominion over you, since you are not under the law but under grace” (Romans
6:13-14 NRSV). Granted, this is no easy
task, but there are great incentives.
To continually follow the way of sin is to court death—death greater than the cessation of life. The death that ensues from sin is Death with a capital “D.” On the other hand, to present ourselves to God is to open the door to something greater than ourselves. It is to open the door to grace—grace that includes forgiveness for our sins but goes beyond. The grace God offers us is grace that is creative and cleansing.
God’s grace ushers us through a door labeled
“sanctification.” Sanctification is
God’s way of making us into who we were meant to be—children of God, created in
God’s image. Sanctification is not an
instantaneous change. We’re not one
thing on one side of the door and other on the other side. On the other side of the door lies a new
way—God’s way as revealed in Jesus.
Passing through the door, we embark on a new journey; and along that
journey, we experience the saving grace of God.
We experience sanctification—the gradual process by which we become what
God declares us to be, children of God.
Who we are and what we become is largely determined by our choice
as to what or who has dominion over our living.
