I am kinda tired of everyone judging someone else as if their own sins aren't "as bad." Yes, I do it, you do it, we all do it. Everyone has that one thing they just can't stand and consider unforgivable. Thank God He sent His Son so that every sin can be forgiven and left it the past where it belongs. I sure wouldn't want to suddenly be the object of disdain today for something I did as a teen. I'm not "the same person" I was back then. I still mess up all the time. I just mess up differently. Who am I to look at someone and say their sin is worse than mine? Of course being sorry for what you have done and striving not to do it anymore definitely counts for something. Refusing to acknowledge your own guilt is the real issue: thinking that you should be considered righteous based on your own actions, or even despite them, without admitting that you are guilty and need a Savior.
So many people today live with a double standard, just like the Pharisees that Jesus rebuked time and time again. Somehow they thought they could define "the rules" so that they applied to everyone but them. They refused to open their eyes and see that this very thing is what made them so despicable. God has set the standards of right and wrong according to His own nature. Anything that is uncharacteristic of God Himself is sin. He is truth. Being untruthful is therefore sin. He is just. Being unjust is therefore sin. Is He fair? Would you consider executing one perfect man to pay the penalty for every sinful man and woman who would ever believe fair? I say it's not fair. It is just. The sin was committed, and the sin was paid for, but it's not fair. Fair would be for each of us to be punished for our own sin. It may not seem fair that the thing you or I want to do, or the lifestyle you or I want to live is considered sin. It doesn't have to be fair. If we depended on what was fair we would be doomed. Grace isn't fair. Grace is receiving kindness you don't deserve. Mercy isn't fair. Mercy is being pardoned from a punishment you do deserve. If we could all just take off our self righteous masks and say, "I am a sinner. This thing that I do, or this way that I have been living deserves punishment. I trust in Jesus who took the punishment for me so that I could live for Him," if we could just say it and mean it with all of our hearts, we could see that we are no better and no worse than the others around us. The difference may just be that they haven't understood yet what Jesus did for them. The difference could be that we are trusting in our works and "causes" to justify us. It might just be time to humble ourselves. The difference could be a simple conversation explaining that there is forgiveness available for any and every sin or crime that has been committed. Are we ready to make a difference?
I am not going to condone sin, or defend the act, but I will view each person as one who has been made and loved by the God of the universe. I will respect their rights as a human being, and will treat them with kindness even if I must reject their actions. It's easier said than done. The actions of others hurt me and those I love. There is emotional and sometimes physical damage because of the way people have treated us or because of things they have exposed to us that we should not have had to witness. Forgiving them and viewing them as someone who deserves God's forgiveness as much as I do is a hard pill to swallow, but for the sake of wellness and healing and my own forgiven state, it must be swallowed. After all, look at how many times I myself have hurt or offended someone else. Look at the emotional scarring my words have caused or even the injury that my anger or carelessness has caused. We are equal in wrongdoing. We are equal in the fact that Christ died for both of us. If we are not equal in our decision to trust in Him, then I pray for that to change.
Lord, please help me to see others the way you see them. Please show me the things in my life that I need to turn from so that I am truly following you, and help the person reading this to take into consideration the heart of this matter and trust you to forgive them for things they haven't even been able to face as sin before. Help us all to forgive others as we ourselves have been forgiven.
In Jesus name I pray these things, amen.
