Monday, September 16, 2013

Faith Like A Child: When bad is..... bad.

       About a month ago I made an attempt at water-skiing!  After watching my mother-in-law cruise around the lake on her skies like it was the easiest thing in the world, it was my turn.  It wasn't my first attempt water skiing, but it had been years since I had water-skiied.  What I mean by water-skiing in the past is I got up one time, hung on for dear life as we did a loop around the lake and collapsed exhausted into the water at the end.  That was about 15 years ago.  So how did it go this time.... not good!  I tried, and tried, and tried, but all I had to show for it was a bunch of face plants into the water!
      After I got back into the boat I asked my 3 year old daughter, who had the joy (or maybe pain) of watching my failed attempts, how I did.  Her answer in typical 3 year old fashion, "Bad."  What my ego hoped to hear was "great" or "ok" or "good try" instead what I heard was "bad" and rightly so because I did a bad job of water-skiing!  We live in a culture that doesn't like to use the word "bad."  Instead we much prefer to use words like mistaken, fail, screwed up, etc, but we don't like to use the word bad.  We like to say at least you tried, or great effort, or you almost got it right!  However, sometimes things are just bad and we need to call them what they are.  
      I wonder how much we have allowed the language of our culture to sip into our churches when it comes to talking about sin.  Often times we try to soften the blow of sin and cheapen the language that the Bible uses in order that it might be more "user friendly."  We want to make sure people feel encouraged and inspired and talking about sin being really, really, bad doesn't usually make us feel encouraged and inspired.  But sin is bad, in fact it is terrible and it is a huge offense before a holy God and as a result of our sin we are under the wrath of God.  Sin is bad, it is really, really, bad.  Until we grasp how bad sin is we cannot understand how amazing grace is and how desperately we need Jesus.  On my way to work this morning I was listening to a podcast and the pastor said, "We tell people that Jesus saves them from hell, instead of telling people Jesus saves them from their sin."  Being saved from hell sounds better than being saved from our own sin that is such an offense before God that unless it is dealt with by putting our faith in the finished work of Jesus on the cross we will go to hell.
       When we lose the magnitude of sin and quit calling it what it is, we cheapen the gift of salvation.  We cheapen the drastic measures in which God went in order to reconcile ourselves to Him.  Let's be sure to call what is bad, "bad."  Sin is bad.