Over the past several months my family has been experiencing a crisis. While it is not in the interest of this post to identify what exactly the crisis is or who is involved, I will say that the crisis that is taking place is due to the actions of one single person. This person is quite possibly the single most selfish person I have ever personally known. He has caused me to really stop and think about some very important issues. As Jesus admonished us to identify the planks in our own eyes before pointing out the specks in each other's eyes, this situation has really caused me to think introspectively and evaluate some very personal issues.

In any case, I wanted to take a moment and share with you a few observations I have made concerning the issue of sin. As I witness a man whose heart is collapsing in on itself like a dying star, I have had the sickening experience of witnessing firsthand what unconstrained sin in a human life can -- and will -- produce.

Below are some of my observations:

• Sin is undeniably relational. No one sins in a vacuum. To think that someone can sin without it ever affecting someone else is insanity. Sin rips at the very fabric of our personhood, which, as all my astute Trinitarian readers will already know, is based on relationships of self-giving love. Sin is exactly the opposite of that. It is de-personalizing and de-humanizing. It not only affects the one committing, but the one receiving (and in this particular case, my entire family). Everybody suffers from the actions of one.


• Sin is, at its root, a condition. Yes, people commit "acts" of sin. Someone lies, another person steals, etc. But these actions come from an inner disposition of the heart. While on the surface it may not appear so, the actions of the individual in question are not some random acts that just came up out of nowhere. They are the outward manifestations or "fruits" of a deep, inner condition that has not been dealt with. Sinful actions do not simply materialize out of nothingness. They spring from a crooked and broken heart that is depraved because it is deprived.


• Broken fellowship produces sin FIRST, then sin produces broken fellowship. Usually the formula is as follows: Man sins, THEN his relationship with God is broken. But I think we have it all backwards. Once we break fellowship with God (thus depriving ourselves of his life-giving, life-sustaining presence), we leave ourselves open to all sorts of depravity. He alone is good, therefore He is the Source of all goodness. The person I have been mentioning broke fellowship with God a long time ago, and as a result has severed ties with the only Source of holiness. The result of this is what you now see. He is "Exhibit A" of a heart bent inward upon itself, the gravity of which destructively sucks in everyone and everything with which he comes into contact. The black hole of this man's heart feeds mercilessly on the lives of others with an insatiable appetite for more. This, in turn, leads to the breaking of fellowship with others. Keep this formula straight in your head: Broken fellowship with God results in a deprivation that leads to depravity that bears the fruit of sinful acts that destroy our relationships with others.
  


• Sin makes us crazy. I cannot even believe the delusions of grandeur of this person in my family. He is so whacked out of his own mind. The sin in his heart has absolutely blinded him to all things good and pure and wholesome in his life. He has a singular selfishness that acts as an impenetrable veil that prohibits his vision to see anything other than himself. The one who cuts himself from the Source of goodness simultaneously cuts himself off from the Source of truth. Without the Spirit of Truth we cannot discern right from wrong or good from evil.


• Sadly, my observations that have caused introspection have shown me that I am capable of anything. The self-centerdness of this individual is not some rare, unusual condition. It's not an endangered species of sin. It is simply a distilled example of what sin is. It is the same thing I experience in me when I find myself acting selfish in my own marriage, only to a greater degree. It is sin unblemished. It is not another kind of sin. It is sin in its purest form or expression. I'm not talking about actions. I am talking about a disposition/condition that produces actions. What I am seeing in this man is precisely what I myself would be were it not for grace. I am 100% capable of what this man is and what he is doing, that is because apart from grace I am capable of anything.


• This leads me to my final point: God's grace is sufficient. The true beauty of the gospel is that Jesus, the perfect divine-human person, has fully entered into the human condition, but he did so without sin. He "divinized" humanity, perfected it, recapitulated it into what it was supposed to be. We, in turn, can share in that, and through him in his Spirit become what he is - real human persons who partake of the divine nature of holy love. God's salvation is not simply being saved from the penalty of sin (i.e. death) but saved from the condition of it (i.e. a heart centered on itself). He saves us from sin to holiness, and He does it here and now. It is a very present salvation. Oh the joy that fills my heart when I realize that the deepest problems that trouble my soul don't have to wait until glory for a cure! He can save right now. He is the only hope we will ever have of not becoming a dehumanizing, depersonalizing, selfish, destructive time bomb in this world.

I have many other thoughts and observations concerning this issue, but I want to hear from you. What are your thoughts? What are your observations? What do you think?

Labels: theology