“BUT I’VE DONE SO MANY BAD THINGS!”
Have you praised God lately for his immutability? That word means unchanging. His unchanging nature. He loves because it is his nature to love. Nothing we do makes him love us more or love us less. His love is a settled fact.
His love and mercy are tied together. No one makes him love, and no one makes him be merciful. It flows forth from his kindness. The heart of God is a heart of mercy and kindness. And mercy is something that we always need.
We fail. We sin. We break his laws. And when we break his laws, we break his heart. But he is merciful. His mercy endures forever. God never runs out of mercy. There is a limitless supply within the heart of God.
Everything that we need is found in the heart of God. The gift of Jesus Christ reveals his heart. And everything that we need is found in Jesus. Mercy, love, compassion, kindness, grace—these are all things that come from the heart and nature of God. And they all describe Jesus.
What matters is not how bad we have been. That should never even come into our thinking. We should think in terms of sin. The fact that we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). It is the human condition. We are by nature children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3).
Considering “how bad” you’ve been is egotistical. It is arrogant to think that way. It puts the emphasis on you.
The emphasis needs to be on Christ. As for us, the fact that we, as members of the human race, have sinned and rebelled against God is sufficient. Yes, what you have done is bad and evil. Just as what I and everyone else has done falls into that same category. But when we think about how “bad” we’ve been, we are putting the emphasis in the wrong place.
Jesus died for sin. “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” John the Baptist said, looking at Jesus (John 1:29). It is true that we have committed sins. But sin is a condition.
Think about the fact that Jesus died for sin. Don’t think about how bad you think your sins are. You are in no position to judge or rank sins. Not the sins of others. And not your own sins.
Don’t take this the wrong way, but who do you think you are? God? Who are you to analyze sin? That’s the way Pharisees and religious hypocrites think.
The ones who opposed Jesus throughout his entire ministry—the hypocritical religious leaders—were always hung up on how bad someone else’s sins were. And they could not see that their sins were as bad as anyone’s. That was why Jesus stayed so angry with them. They categorized sins. They looked at themselves as better than others.
One result of categorizing sins can be looking down on others. Another can be looking down on yourself. Both ways of viewing things come from a warped perspective. It is terrible to look down on others, or think that you are better than them, because of their sins. It is also terrible to think that you are beyond saving, or that you are worse than someone else, because of the nature of your own sins. It is ridiculous, actually. You are not the focus here. What you have done is not the focus.
Accept the fact that you are a sinner and that means that you deserve the wrath of God. “Ranking” sin is a waste of time. First of all, you’re not qualified to do that. Secondly, that is not how sin works.
We are all in the same boat. We deserve wrath and condemnation. And God gives us kindness and love. This is not about you. This is not about your sins. This is not about “how bad you’ve been.” This is about the glory of the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Do you think it is a sign of humility to think that you are a worse sinner than others? To imply by your reasoning that your sin is more powerful than the blood of Jesus? That you have done things so bad that they can defeat the power of the sacrifice of Jesus? That is not humility. That is arrogance. Put it down. Throw it away. Kick it out. Get rid of it. Do not spend another second thinking that way. Think only of Christ. His love, his death, and his mercy are sufficient.
Dewayne Dunaway
