A Graceful Transformation

“The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 5:20-21 NIV)

It was one of those occasions that I don’t like, but sometimes cannot avoid—confronting a leader’s sin.  As we sat together and I explained what I knew, the leader’s response was, “Well, we all struggle.”  

This is one of the ways we typically deal with sin in our lives.  This one attempts to excuse it.  “Everybody struggles.  I’m no different than anybody else.  Sin happens.  Let’s just move on.”

Another way is to focus continually on our sins.  Often, “accountability” relationships involve solely talking about our struggles with sin.  

Both of these approaches miss the mark in dealing with sin.  The first diminishes the seriousness of it by appealing to its pervasiveness. There’s so much sin that surely God isn’t serious about me actively and continually confronting it in my own life.  Surely grace bails me out of having to deal with it.  

The second approach makes the opposite mistake.  Instead of focusing too little on sin, it focuses too much.  The error in judgment comes with thinking the way to overcome sin is to focus on it and to try even harder to avoid it.  

I find in this passage the perfect balance.  As we sin, there is always sufficient grace to cover it, so we don’t have to be obsessed with overcoming sin, which inevitably leads us to focus exclusively on our sins.  But we should not merely see the power of grace as a means of avoiding the eternal consequences of sin.  Grace also demonstrates its power through righteousness.  Grace leads to transformation.  We are in the process of shedding our sinful selves and putting on Christ, and it is grace that makes that possible.  It provides the safety net while we are in the process of being perfected.  

Today, know that every sin is serious.  If not, there would be no need for grace.  But know, too, that grace is intended to turn your attention more and more to the Lord and less and less to sin.  Grace is meant to lead to your transformation into a new person, one that looks a lot like Jesus.

© Jim Musser 2012