I believe that God’s grace is actually sufficient. For everyone. And everything. No matter how horrible, how unimaginably cruel, how disgusting. Sin is sin. I am no better than a rapist. I am no better than a murderer. I am no better than anyone else. I feel the full weight of that as I type it- the fact that I am not worth more than someone who would rape an innocent human being is horrifying to me. And yet it is true. My sins are no more acceptable than that.
And I do not think that it is alright for me to hate someone because their sin is more horrifying to me than my own sin. First of all, my own sin should disgust me- it is, after all, dirty and ugly and real- and I should fully realize that I am only free from it NOT BY OWN MERIT but by the grace of God.
I am not free from my sins because I had a good upbringing. It’s not because I go to church. It’s not because I vote right or help old ladies at the grocery store or am nice to people. It’s because Christ paid for my sins so that I don’t have to. Christ DIED for my sins so that I don’t have to.
And so, logically, if my sin is as ugly as ALL sin and nothing about ME frees me from that sin, I am no better than anyone else. And if I am no better than anyone else…then I can’t hate them.
Hate is ugly. It takes root in your heart and it hangs on tightly, growing into crevices like a weed. There is nothing honorable about hatred. If I hate someone for committing a murder, I AM SINNING. Their sin is still very real, and very horrible- but so is mine. Equally so.
I am not excusing what is wrong. Rape, murder- these are hideous, hideous acts that should continued to be punishable by law. I am not arguing with that. I am simply saying that I cannot hate someone for doing something like that. I can- and, I believe, should- hate what they did. I can hate that sin, and mourn the damage it has caused. But by no means does another persons sin give me license to hate that person.
I wrote a song a few years ago called “Don’t Settle.” I wrote it for a friend of mine who had previously been planning on committing suicide. It is one of the only songs I’ve written that I felt came with a tune- the words came easily, and a tune came with them. It is one of the few songs I’ve written that I know God gave to me; He sang it to me softly and I simply wrote it down and remembered it. Lately I have thought of perhaps revising the verses a little, but the chorus I will not change. It was the first piece that God gave me, and it is perfect. It goes like this: “Don’t settle, please don’t give up Fight for only the true and beautiful Fight for only the true and beautiful Don’t settle, please don’t give up Fight for only the truth, I’ll fight for you I’ll fight for you.” It was the cry of my heart for my friend, and I believe it is the cry of God’s heart for His children. I know that it is what I want Him to sing to me now, as I am reminding myself not to settle, not to...
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