Time Does Not Make You More Pure To God
We have this false notion that the more time we get between our current spiritual location and the last 'big sin', the purer we are in God's eyes.
Certainly, we should be striving to be obedient. Sin is never a small thing and the heart that feels lightly about sin should ask some serious internal questions. But in the moments after sin, the devil is still at war trying to lead us away from God. Unlike the initial temptations that lead us away, this second attack is not a darkness of the forbidden, but a darkness of hopelessness that touches an insecurity in every struggling Christian. “You are not pure enough for God right now.”
How long after your “big sin” does it take to be pure again?
After your “big sin” you will be tempted to think that only after you get some space, some "morally good choices" under your belt, will you be pleasing again in God's sight. But is this biblical?
Ephesians 2:1-3/8-9
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, ---3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body[a] and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Romans 5:6
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
In the above verses, what state where you in when God looked at you and said: "I want that person in my family!" - The verses say: dead in sin. Living in the passions of your flesh. Children of wrath. Weak. Ungodly.
Suffice it to say, you were not attractive or pure or awesome when God looked at you. There was nothing in you extracting his love, deserving his love, making you worthy. In fact, these verses teach everything in us was screaming, "Don't love us!". And yet, with this full knowledge of our warts, our weaknesses, our sins, our blemishes. Despite our lack of intrinsic value. God deemed us valuable by His choice, not our attraction. We deserve nothing but punishment, wrath, and separation because of our sins. And yet, God has bestowed upon us love, forgiveness, grace, and adopted us into His family.
Time does not atone for sins
My friends, with this knowledge of the Gospel. We must see the freeing reality. Time does not atone for our sins. We are justified by the blood of Jesus Christ alone. Period. Full stop. Let it unburden you from feeling as if God does not want you until you've gone some sort of magical number of days without a big sin. He wants you just as you are.
Not an excuse for disobedience
He wants you just as you are, but He also loves you enough to not let you stay there.
One of the dangers of such a freeing Gospel is a type of theological abuse that leads to excusing disobedience in our lives. A devaluing of the weight of our sinfulness.
I firmly believe, however, that the Gospel is the place where we can find the deepest and godliest sorrow over our sins. For in looking into the eyes of the one who loves us so deeply, can we begin to see the heaviness of our sins. If you examine your sins without the Gospel in your mind, all you see is how your sins have hurt you. But, if you examine your sins with the Gospel in your mind, you begin to see the most piercing side of our sins. How they hurt Jesus.
The beauty of this theological truth, that we are pure because of Jesus’ death and not our own works, is that repentance, though sour for a time, always leads us into the arms of God, and never away. It’s the heart that thinks it has to make itself pure before God before it can return, that actually devalues the doctrine.
So let this truth lead you to fight for obedience all the more! Often, our intimacy with God is rather proportional to our obedience. But our legal standing (and worthiness) is not, however.
He pursues you
When did God run after Adam and Eve? Two days after sin? One day? No, He pursued them right after.
Do you feel dirty? Don't run from God thinking you can clean yourself up and then return to Him to atone for your sins with time and work. That will never be good enough, for you do not have enough time nor do you have enough power to purify your evil, wicked, Jesus-killing sins.
Go to God, who saw you at your worst and deemed you valuable not because you intrinsically were, but because of His great love which gave you value. "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
We are, sinful as we are, pure and valuable in God’s sight because of Jesus.
Treasuring that truth today with you,
Josh.
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