I’m a Sinner Who’s Probably Gonna Sin Again

After reading my last post a good friend told me that he thought it might be read as giving people permission to sin and go wild. I’ve been thinking about his remarks ever since. And he’s right. The way the post comes across it does sound like I’m giving people that freedom.

That’s because I am. It’s also precisely the freedom that God gives them. As Robert Capon has said, God isn’t in the sin-prevention business, he is in the sin-forgiveness business.

In life there is all the freedom you want. You are free to make whatever decision you may. However, there is something to be said about a kind of false freedom. A freedom that enslaves. This is sin. Here, it is helpful to think of sin not so much as a thing you do, but as an imposing alien force. A force contra to who you were created to be. Sin seeks to own you. To enslave you.

You see this happen all of the time when kids who grew up in abnormally strict homes get a taste of freedom in college. They tend to go wild because they don’t understand boundaries. This has become a sort of truism in our society, although it is not true across the board.

We know the verse all to well that says all things are permissible but not all things are beneficial. Sometimes when a verse gets quoted AT you enough times it starts to lose its meaning.

But this is still a really powerful message.

I am glad that I have found freedom from the oppressive rules and regulations that I thought I had to follow in order to be holy. We are not bound to a set of arbitrary standards about dress or drink, etc. However, in our freedom we have to learn responsibility. It is easier than we think to take our freedom and run down a very dark road with it.

I’m glad my wife can wear pants. But when she goes outside, I hope she wears those pants. If she doesn’t she will have a set of consequences to face. Even though I don’t ask her to dress a certain way she aims to dress in a way that honors God as well as both of us. She could take her freedom and decide to dress in public in a way that would make me uncomfortable. If she did, I would still love her, I might be hurt, but I wouldn’t attempt to control her. However, because she is responsible I don’t have to worry about her “going off the deep end.”

Okay, maybe this is a weak example. Let’s try another.

I’m glad that I can enjoy alcohol, particularly beer and whiskey. The first time I ever drank my friends encouraged me to do a power-hour. If you don’t know what that is, good, don’t ever do it. I got unbelievably sick. I said a lot of things that offended people (Or so I am told. I don’t remember much). I made a complete fool of myself. I learned that at a certain point in the night you should just stop.

With freedom comes great responsibility. I know people who in both of these regards have embraced their freedom but haven’t learned responsibility. They are constantly facing the consequences of their unchecked freedom. They aren’t less valuable or less loved by God, but they are making their lives a lot more difficult.

Prodigal

The son who who embraced his freedom without responsibility ended up with nothing, slurping up the waste with the pigs. This wasn’t his father’s punishment for his misdeeds. It was the natural consequence of his actions. He turned his freedom into a kind of slavery.

But there is good news. Even if you have embraced freedom without responsibility, you are not ruined. You are not worth less than you were before. You are not tarnished. You are valuable. You are loved. Now go and sin no more.

I try to live by that admonition of Jesus, to go and sin no more. The truth is though, no matter how hard I try, I will keep on sinning. Like Kendrick Lamar says “I am a sinner who’s probably gonna sin again. Lord forgive me.”

The coolest part about the story of the prodigal son is that the story doesn’t have a resolved happy ending. The story doesn’t end with the father inside partying with his sons. After the son comes home. After they kill the fatted calf. After he gives his son the ring. After the party starts. The story ends with the father, out in the cold, in the night, pleading with his eldest son to come in. Unresolved.

That is where God stands in our lives. When our freedom has got the best of us. In our darkest moments. When we are at our worst. When sin has enslaved us. He is there. Giving you all the freedom you want. But pleading with you all along, to come inside and rest.

So be holy. Attempt to live as a called out person. Eat, drink, and be merry. Be responsible. And never lose hope.