That All May Come To Repentance

Flagrant, willful sin. Have you ever been there? I have. It has a way of stifling the voice of God in our lives. But as damaging as it is to our growth as a Christian, there is another type of sin that is even more damaging. It’s the sanctimonious judging of the sin in others while ignoring the secret sins of our own heart.

Flagrant sin is kind of out there. It’s visible to others. We know it is there and feel the weight of God’s conviction if we belong to Him. But the secret sin of self-righteousness…well, we might not even realize it is there. The fact is, Jesus had more to say about self-righteousness than any other sin.

In Matthew 23:27-28, Jesus condemns hypocrisy with “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”

So, I have to wonder, what do I look like on the inside? Do I treat the drug addict with contempt, or do I grieve for the tormented soul who is living in chains? Jesus responded with compassion to those who were living in bondage. He said in Luke 4:18, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Are we Christians proclaiming freedom to the prisoners, or are we tightening their chains with our hypocrisy?

What about the girl who is leaving the abortion clinic with scars on her soul? Do we rant about how could anyone do such a thing? Jesus is her hope of transformation, the One who removes her shame and bestows on her a crown of beauty instead of ashes (Isaiah 61). Are we telling her about Him? Or are we self-righteously viewing her as a hopeless, hard-hearted sinner?

In John 8:11, Jesus told the woman caught in adultery, “Neither do I condemn you.” The word He used was “katakrino,” which means to judge worthy of punishment. Although God is righteous and must punish sin, He doesn’t want anyone to receive that judgment because He is merciful, “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Oh, that we were as merciful, helping others to come to repentance.

The problem is that we believers get in our little Christian circles and begin to judge sin with a sliding-scale. THAT sin is worse than our sin. I Corinthians 6:18 says to “Flee immorality.” How many Christians judge the unmarried cohabitating couple according to this command, yet they themselves have been watching questionable content on television? What about coarse humor? Psalm 101:3 says, “I will not look with approval on anything that is vile.” I admit that I love to laugh. I have to ask myself—What am I laughing at?

 Romans 3:23 is clear: “All have sinned.” Sometimes Christians like to classify sin; i.e., gossip isn’t as bad as robbery. And yes, our judicial system supports this idea with making “the punishment fit the crime.” God, however, has a perfect standard, so there is no gradient. We either hit the target or miss it. And we’ve all missed it. Romans doesn’t say some sinned little sins and some sinned big sins. It says all have sinned. Period. Romans 1:18 is also clear that God’s wrath is “being revealed from heaven against ALL the godlessness and wickedness of people” (emphasis mine). All the godlessness. My godlessness. Your godlessness. ALL of our sin brings about God’s wrath, not just the seemingly big sins. These verses in Romans don’t categorize our sin according to severity. They put us all into the same category as being separated from God. Falling short of His glory. In need of a Savior.

And there is such a Savior! Oh, dear one! Don’t miss Him! If you don’t know Him, please read the message tab under the menu section at the top of my blog. There is nothing you could ever do that is beyond His reach of forgiveness if you come to Him with regret, repentance, and a desire to change. If you have more questions, please feel free to email me at deeperrootsblog1@gmail.com. To those who already know Him—let’s take a look inside ourselves so that we can view others with the same compassion that Jesus did. He wants everyone to come to repentance. Even us.