His Mercy is More
You can see why some churches hesitate to talk a lot about sin.
After all, sin seems negative, and when we focus upon it, we might end up looking at our faults and weaknesses, which could lead us to hopelessness.
Yet, the opposite is actually true.
When we take sin seriously, we actually make sense of our own lives and the world in which we live.
Every human knows, by nature, that there is a creator (Romans 1:18-20), and everyone knows that this means we must be reconciled with him.
Sadly, many people in the world never hear about Jesus, and so they miss out on hearing about the glorious grace that is provided in Christ alone.
But likewise, there are some people who hear about Jesus, but never actually hear anything about the wonderful forgiveness and reconciliation that comes from repenting and believing in him.
That’s why I love the song with the lyrics “our sins, they are many, his mercy is more,” which shows the great mercy of God to forgive the sins we all, deeply know about.
As we live this out, we need to keep dealing with sin in our own, church community.
In 1 Corinthians 5, the Apostle Paul speaks about a very, serious sin that is being accepted and tolerated amongst their church, and in response, he tells them to “throw this man out and hand him over to Satan so that his sinful nature will be destroyed and he himself will be saved on the day the Lord returns.” (1 Corinthians 5:5)
It sounds really full-on, but the motivation is so that the person who is committing the big sin will see how serious it is, and then will confess it to Jesus and then know his forgiveness as he awaits Christ’s return.
Our sins are many, but God’s mercy is more!
JODIE McNEILL
(Photo credit: Bloody Marty via Flickr)
