Stop mocking God

This post comes out of some discussion with my brother, Kevin, (thanks bro for great conversation!) about a verse in Romans 6 where Paul talks about living like we've been brought from death to life. The question of discussion is, "do I live as though I were once dead, but now am alive?"

This also ties into a conversation we had on our High School mission trip a couple of weeks ago. We were sharing stories and some of the stories were more "dramatic" stories of death to life than others. These stories left some of those who had never "strayed too far" wondering if their faith or their relationship with Christ would be stronger or better if they had also done similar things. While I do believe every one has to find his/her own way, I also believe that the reason some of us feel like we haven't ever "strayed far" is because of this talk that some sins don't really matter or at least not as much.

I think the clarifying point for me is that we have all sinned. To trivialize "smaller" sins is to mock God's grace and his holiness. We do this all the time through teaching people that little "white" lies are no big deal, cheating is okay, obesity and gluttony are fine, hospitality is an option, etc, etc. I want to be clear that I'm not trying to lean back into legalism, but I do think that there is something to be said for realizing how far we are from God and how far his grace extends even to those of us who have grown up in the church and not really gone crazy with drunkness, orgies and the like.

For me when I begin to realize how far I am from God's holiness even when I'm trying, it makes me realize how great his love truly is for us, how far his grace extends and how much his Spirit can change us - from the inside out. This kind of life of embracing God's grace to me leads us to freedom and far from the fear that seems to dominate our culture, our decisions and our futures.