a NEW creature

I have had two conversations recently that are just echoing in my mind. Both of them in regard to sin in a professed believer's life. Let me try to summarize without revealing details.

One person talked about the sin in their life as being inevitable. It was the "cat-out-of-the-bag" argument. It goes something like this. Would we not agree that once this sin has been committed, it is impossible to truly go back in our own mind? In other words, I have become a sinner. And since I have sinned and I can't forget the sin, I am constantly feeling guilty about having committed that sin. I have even asked God to forgive me, but I can't forgive myself. Therefore, since I can get no relief, I am doomed to repeat this sin for as long as I shall live. You can't "unring" a bell. The cat is out of the bag.

The second person talked about good intentions in the long run. It goes something like this. Since ultimately, my intentions are good, whatever occurs now is good. Regardless of the Scriptural teaching, I have every intent of being obedient someday, so today is just a precursor to someday. It may be wrong today, but I will do what it takes to make it right tomorrow. My good intentions prevent this action from actually being sinful.

To both of these arguments I simply say, "Baloney!"

The first case is a very elaborate case for justifying the fun of sin. Yes, I said it. Sin is fun (at least for the immediate moment we are sinning). Rather than deal with the guilt (and perhaps even conviction of the Holy Spirit), I will attempt to sweep it under the rug by declaring that I can not help but to be a sinner and so I will go on sinning. If that is true why did Paul say the following: Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. (2 Corinthians 5:17, NASB) We are not trapped in the old. We have become new through Jesus. And to stay with the old is to deny what Christ did for us on the cross. When we become new, we have the old stains of sin washed away. They are no longer with us. Therefore, the guilt we are feeling is either coming from our own lack of repentance, or from the pit of hell. I tend to think it is the former. We don't want to truly repent from the sins that we enjoy, so we justify our actions instead.

The second case is also a case of justifying the sin. Once again, it is bringing everything we can think of to bear in order to "feel" justified. But our only true justification (which means declared just) comes from Jesus' completed atoning work on the cross. Let's give up this idea that the short-term wrong will be justified in the long-term. The ends do not justify the means. Jesus came to earth with the intention and purpose of fully paying the price for our sin. He accomplished that task. Every action He performed, every word He spoke, were pointed to the cross where He died. The means were not different from the ends, they were the road by which the ends were reached. We need to let go of thinking that we can do what we want in the here-and-now as long as our heart is right in the then-and-there. We, as those who call Jesus our Savior and Lord, should be living as such every moment, every day.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23, NASB)