Saved from sin

Today the sermon was about Christmas, of course, but specifically that Jesus comes to save us. Jesus does not save us from adversity, or violence, or poverty, or illness, or loneliness, or grief, or many other things. All these things happen to those of us who follow Him as they do to those who do not follow Him.

From what does Jesus save us? From sin.

I've thought a lot about this today. I know there is a lot in the Bible about how our forgiveness comes from the sacrifice Jesus offered. We are saved from the eternal consequences of our sin. I do not entirely understand all this. I struggle with the idea of needing shedding of blood for forgiveness to happen. I trust I will comprehend this more fully in the future. It is present in enough of the Bible that I can't really ignore it.

There is other saving that I covet, though. Two other ways of being saved that I think are not really offered to me.

I wish that the results of my sins would not hurt other people. I'm OK with taking my consequences. I wish that no one else would suffer because of me. I wish the world could be saved from my sin.

There is both an immediate and a global aspect to this. My family stands to suffer the most because they are in closest proximity. Any disrespect, pride, judgementalism, anger, laziness, etc. hits my loved ones first.

I've been working on the non-violent communication book some more today. There have been times this afternoon when it could have been helpful if I was skilled at using it. Instead I ended up saying things that didn't help, that probably made things worse.

It can be overwhelming when I think globally. As a white person in America my existence hurts other people. Every time I get into the car I think about it. When I buy stuff in plastic, when I have containers I can't recycle, when I hear about the injustices we commit around the globe and realize that I haven't written my senator, or protested, or done anything to stop it. So I wish the world could be saved from my sin.

I also wish I could be saved from sinning. When I know the right thing to do, and then mess up anyway, I wish to be saved from that. When I find out after the fact that I have been doing things wrong for a long time without knowing it, I wish to be saved from that. I would like to be saved from choosing willfully or unknowingly to do anything more that hurts me or someone else, or that dishonors God.

That's not the kind of saving I'm going to get. I'm slowly learning that God is in the business of redemption. God can take those things we give him humbly, and make them into things that are better. Brokenness is the way to God. We have free choice. We make some nasty choices. Then we have more free choice. We can choose whether to be straight with each other and God about the decisions we have made. We can choose to justify or to confess.

I have to admit that brokenness is much more fun in hindsight than it is looking forward to it. I know how much I have learned from being broken and admitting that brokenness. I'm sorry that I did the things that led to the brokenness. I'm not sorry to have received the healing God has offered, both to me, and to those around me, when I was able to admit the brokenness. But I'm still the same person who would rather just not sin, not have to admit that what I do hurts others and hurts myself, not have to see myself as less than good.

I guess maybe being saved from sinning could be a dangerous thing. I could pretty easily begin to think that the lack of sin was due to my own maturity, wisdom, and innate goodness. I could forget that it was a result of being saved. And then my hubris would lead me to be judgmental about those who still sin, which would technically be sin for me. So that would be the end of my being saved from sinning.

Taking responsibility is important here. Asking to be saved from sinning implies that I am helpless in the face of sin and that is not true. The truth is I choose to say and do things even though I know better. I could choose differently. I'm not helpless.

When I look at the people who influence me, those I respect the most are those in touch with their own fallibility. Humility lends credibility to the advice I receive.

Maybe being saved from my sin includes the mercy that God sees me as valuable, rather than as a list of offenses. God seeks me out. God enjoys my company. I think God is better at this than I am. God is able to see me for my possibilities more than for my failures. That is certainly being saved from sin.

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