Sin management. Have you heard this term before? I came across it a couple years ago and have found it to be true of the modern church Sunday morning service. It was how I operated for most of my Christian journey. You know, I am merely a sinner, saved by grace, not perfect just forgiven and any other clever saying associated with a bumper sticker or bracelet you can by at the Christian bookstore. Sin management implies that as a Christian I am now somehow supposed to stop sinning, and manage it so as to not get into trouble, to be a good boy and don't blow it. But what it really is, is fear and guilt, "what if I screw this up", "oh, I screwed up, I am such an idiot". Have you been there, does this resonate in your brain?
So my question was this, "Is this really what Jesus came for, to heal the blind and raise people from the dead for, to be beaten and die for. All so I could be forgiven? Don't get me wrong we need that forgiveness, we need the Cross and what it represents. What I want to know is are we acknowledging the work of the Resurrection and the Ascension? You remember those right, the two other major works of Christ that we seem to only talk about on Easter Sunday. Jesus was raised from the freaking' dead and appeared to his people and ate with them and then while they are standing together ascends into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father! And the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead and the same Spirit that ascended into heaven lives in me, in you if you choose to believe in Jesus as Lord. That is incredible news.
So how do you break the grips of sin management, and live free? Well go to scripture, read Isaiah 61:1 then go read Luke 4:14-21. Read John 8:32, John 8:36, and Galatians 5:1 to name a few.
Friends, eternal life in Christ is available today. Not when you get to heaven, NOW, today you are eternal you are no longer a sinner saved by grace, you are a son or daughter of God who sometimes sins. You are so much more than who you think you are in Gods eyes. His love for you and who you are unimaginable to you and me and I can't wait to see heaven and live there, but until then we must embrace the FREEDOM Christ came to give us, all of it, forgiveness, new life, his power. Look through the scriptures and see what he calls you, he says you are a saint, you are righteous, seriously go look!
I know this will cause some of you to not read this blog anymore because sin management is comfortable to you, it gives you control. Your life is manageable, you are being a good boy or a good girl. But are you really living? "All men die, not every man really lives." Sin management lead me to be very judgmental of all people especially Christians. I was the Pharisee in Luke 18 who thanked God that I wasn't like others, go read it please, if you read nothing else go read Luke 18:9-14. See which person you are. If you find yourself a pharisee, do what I did, repent and ask God for that forgiveness that we talked about and then live Free.
Jesus said, "But Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it..."
Have you found your life yet? If so, are you willing to lose it to find it?
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