Faith Simplifiedનમૂનો

Day 5: GOD JUDGES

EMBRACING HOPEFUL REALISM

Talking about sin is complicated. No matter what perspective we’re coming at it from—whether you’re reading this book as a committed Christian, you’re curious about what it is Christians believe, or you simply have questions—our understanding of sin is a significant barrier for many. After all, few of us would call ourselves evil. Most of us aren’t walking around actively plotting ways to harm others. And again, let’s be honest: We all know people who reject Christianity and are among the kindest and most compassionate people around. Before I was a Christian, I had problems with this, too. But it wasn’t the “we’re‑inclined‑to‑do‑evil” part that was difficult for me. (Again, that whole being realistic/pessimistic thing.) It was that we couldn’t (and can’t) make ourselves better. It was that we needed help.

And the complicated aspect of Christianity’s view of sin is that it demands that we be both honest and hopeful. Its portrayal of the state of humanity is jarring, even shocking, because we all—including Christians—want to think that we aren’t really all that bad. None of us is perfect. We’re all growing and learning. We all make mistakes. And sure, that’s true insofar as it goes, but it’s dishonest to treat that as the whole story. When we do that, we wind up going through life defiantly, treating our significant and literally life‑threatening condition as if it were a harmless wound, trying to wage war without arms and legs. It’s naïve and, frankly, a little silly.

Western Christians, especially, can be guilty of this. Sometimes we minimize sin to the degree that it seems like nothing is off limits at all. Or we are so self‑righteous that we see ourselves as better than people who don’t believe as we do (and if we’re honest, better than most of the people who share our beliefs as well). We act like “good people” are inside the “true” church and “bad people” are outside. But there isn’t any kind of room for this sort of posturing or self‑righteousness within the Christian life because the whole point of Christianity is that we don’t have any righteousness of our own to begin with! If we did, we wouldn’t need Jesus. The Bible is honest enough to tell us that we are even worse than we think we are on even our worst days. It confronts us with just how ugly sin is.

As honest as Christianity is about sin, it doesn’t leave us without hope. Christians should be the most hopeful people around because we know what God has done about sin. Hopeful realists, but hopeful nonetheless. Remember, God gave us Jesus to save us, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). Jesus died so that death would lose its hold and sin would lose its grip; he died so that we could live. And he did it for the joy of seeing his people perfected and this world redeemed forevermore (Hebrews 12:2). Because of Jesus, sin doesn’t have the final word—Jesus does. And because Jesus has the final word, we have good news to tell.