A few weeks ago a friend of mine, Jimmy, wrote a blog that got a lot of traction. You can read it here. It was in response to the conversations happening in the wake of the Supreme Court response to marriage equality. The blog went viral and had thousands of people sharing it and started some interesting conversations. Jimmy looked at the often tossed about cliche "hate the sin, love the sinner" and how it was being used in response to the ruling. From that blog, it got me thinking more and more about that phrase.
Now, let me be clear, this is not a response to Jimmy's blog, not by any stretch. I was simply caught up in that one simple line, and it got me thinking. I think that what I am seeing far to often is that I tend to hate the sinner, and love the sin. Before you get to far ahead of this, and start to judge me for being a mean, horrible person, know this, the sinner I find myself hating is myself, and the sin I so love, to often, is my own. Perhaps you are guilty of this to. I sin. I sin often. I am very, very human. In that humanity, I do things I know I shouldn't, things I know do not please God. But I enjoy them. That is part of the problem with sin. Some of it is fun. Some of it brings some sense of pleasure, at least in the moment. Its part of the lie that Satan has us convinced of. Sin is fun. At times, I would say, its far easier and instantly gratifying to get lost in our sin.
Now, let me be clear, this is not a response to Jimmy's blog, not by any stretch. I was simply caught up in that one simple line, and it got me thinking. I think that what I am seeing far to often is that I tend to hate the sinner, and love the sin. Before you get to far ahead of this, and start to judge me for being a mean, horrible person, know this, the sinner I find myself hating is myself, and the sin I so love, to often, is my own. Perhaps you are guilty of this to. I sin. I sin often. I am very, very human. In that humanity, I do things I know I shouldn't, things I know do not please God. But I enjoy them. That is part of the problem with sin. Some of it is fun. Some of it brings some sense of pleasure, at least in the moment. Its part of the lie that Satan has us convinced of. Sin is fun. At times, I would say, its far easier and instantly gratifying to get lost in our sin.
I think that what I am seeing far to often is that I tend to hate the sinner, and love the sin.
The problem with getting lost in that sin is that as a follower of Jesus I know it is wrong. I know that it is not pleasing to God. So I begin to hate myself. I hate what I have done. I hate that I have done something so displeasing to God, and I am sure He wants nothing to do with me because of the dirtiness of me. This is another lie that Satan uses, that our sin can be so bad that God will not want anything to do with us. Satan knows that God is bigger than all of our sin, all of our sin combined. He is more aware than we are just how powerful God is. And Satan has a better understanding of the reality what Jesus has done in order to reconcile us to God in spite of our sin. But what Satan also knows is that we will believe his lies. We will fall into that trap that he has set, the one that convinces us we are without hope. We will hate ourselves.
I have struggled with depression. Its something that I have dealt with for many years. I have been suicidal. I even spent 10 days in a mental health facility to process through some of it. I have hated myself to the point of wanting to end myself. One of the realities I have had to see is that Satan plays a huge part in our lives. The journey that brought me to a breaking point a few years ago, that led me to a mental health facility because of suicidal thoughts was that I had grown so much hate in my heart for myself that I saw no value in me. I had dove head first into my sinful nature, gotten myself into a pretty complicated situation and in turn despised who I was. I couldn't love the sinner staring back at me in the mirror because I had spent to much time loving the sin I had allowed myself to become engulfed in.
It has taken time. It has been, and continues to be an ongoing journey towards seeing that no matter what, God is bigger than my filth, my sin. God loves me and desires for me to be growing closer to Him. I can not do that fully if I am caught up in sin and I can not do that fully if I am dwelling on my own self hate.
He is a God bigger than our sin, He has made a way for us to be made right and clean. We have a God that despite our very, very humanness, took on all that sin and defeated the liar that convinces us that we should hate ourselves. It is for that reason I can now look at the mirror and love the sinner staring back at me, knowing that I am striving to be more like Christ with every step of this journey.
I have struggled with depression. Its something that I have dealt with for many years. I have been suicidal. I even spent 10 days in a mental health facility to process through some of it. I have hated myself to the point of wanting to end myself. One of the realities I have had to see is that Satan plays a huge part in our lives. The journey that brought me to a breaking point a few years ago, that led me to a mental health facility because of suicidal thoughts was that I had grown so much hate in my heart for myself that I saw no value in me. I had dove head first into my sinful nature, gotten myself into a pretty complicated situation and in turn despised who I was. I couldn't love the sinner staring back at me in the mirror because I had spent to much time loving the sin I had allowed myself to become engulfed in.
It has taken time. It has been, and continues to be an ongoing journey towards seeing that no matter what, God is bigger than my filth, my sin. God loves me and desires for me to be growing closer to Him. I can not do that fully if I am caught up in sin and I can not do that fully if I am dwelling on my own self hate.
He is a God bigger than our sin, He has made a way for us to be made right and clean. We have a God that despite our very, very humanness, took on all that sin and defeated the liar that convinces us that we should hate ourselves. It is for that reason I can now look at the mirror and love the sinner staring back at me, knowing that I am striving to be more like Christ with every step of this journey.
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