"Go. And sin...just a little." Part 5

Part one is here. Part two is here. Part three is here. Part four is here. I think that this will be the last part.

The God of the Bible knows the end from the beginning. But more than that he knows me and himself completely. Now that is a stunning statement for I do not even know myself completely. But God, who is eternal, has everything laid bare before himself. That "everything" includes himself. Nothing escapes his attention and that includes everything that has ever happened and ever will happen. Nothing is forgotten (though he can choose to treat is like he has forgotten our sin) and nothing is glossed over. He knows every single decision I have ever made and will make and what the consequences of those decisions will be. So, in our example in Part Four of the drunk driving friend, he knows if that person will get into an accident or not. He also knows, completely, how destructive drunkenness is to the person who is drunk and must do something about it. He must because of his comprehensive knowledge and his love. You see, the most loving thing to do is to take a knife away from a baby who is playing with it. The most loving thing to do is to confront someone who is heading down the path of drug addiction and try to get them sober. The most loving thing to do is to say "no" to a teen girl who wants to attend a party that has potential predators there. God, in his great love for us, must deal with sin or else he would not be a God of love. If he pushed us towards sin, even just a little, he would violate his nature and cease to be the God he is. He would be a lesser God. A puny God. A God that should be mocked rather than worshiped.

And there is the issue and the beginning and end of the gospel (good news). God is in a love relationship with me and wants me to experience a full and fulfilling life reflecting his image to the world. In order for me to do that I need to renounce sin because it destroys me and others and that renunciation it is the purest reflection of the image of God. When I sin I reflect another image other than the one I was created in. I am a hammer trying to sweep the floor or a chair that is used to vacuum a rug. The hammer was created for nails, the chair for bottoms, and I was created to reflect one image: God's. Any other purpose that I embrace is self-frustrating and only someone that does not have full use of their cognitive functions engages in behavior that is knowingly self-frustrating. God sent his Son, Jesus, to take the punishment that I deserved for my sin so that he could restore the love relationship with me and deal with the division that was between me and him that loving sin had caused. God loved me too much to let me destroy myself by sinning. He also loved me too much to allow me a moment's peach when I reflect an image that is not his. He wants me to embrace the forgiveness for my sin that is offered to me by his Son and be in practice what I am in position. He wants me to reflect the image that I was created in. His image. Not my own image. His.

God is still God. He still loves me, he still hates sin and that is a good thing. I will not live forever in my "prone to wander" state. He will re-create me and I will no longer have the capacity or desire to sin. I see that in part now. I will see that more fully when I see him face to face. Come with me. It will be amazing and the greatest satisfaction you will ever know.