“Suppose I do sin — how do I harm you, you scrutinizer of humanity?”
— from Job ch. 7
Truly, an interesting thought. Job here asks a question I’ve not heard in our prudish Christian spheres: When I sin, do I harm God? Do I really believe that I’ve such power over the Maker of the cosmos? Do I think that in the tiny mind housed in this body of dirt and water I have the capacity or capability to do harm to the Almighty Lord of all creation? Or do I think that He is merely offended — so small-minded so as to be unintentionally irritated by the actions of such little creatures as humans, ants fighting for dominance upon their hills of sand? Do I really think so little of this God whom I serve? Do I think Him so small?
I think that such a perspective is borne out of a misunderstanding of sin, and that it is a quite common point of view. In this view, sin is an arbitrarily bad thing, which our God of Good simply cannot stand to be in the presence of, and humans, the Sinners, hobble feebly back and forth, sinning and driving God away, and repenting in order to allow this God to draw near us again, desperately hoping to end our lives still on His good side.
This kind of view makes Man the Master, and God merely a Spectator. This seems highly illogical to me.
I serve a God who created all by His own will and design — and who looks on His creation as good, for all that comes from Him is good. I see Sin as a twister, a corrupter, a thief of that which does not belong to it. Sin is crouching at the door, and its desire is for me — for my will, my thoughts, my actions and words to result in death, in destruction of the good. Sin depends upon me to wreak its havoc and carry its will; without me, without my compliance, it is powerless, dead.
Yet even our brother, the apostle Paul, says these words: “For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.” And so we see that a war is being waged. For in the mind and life of Man there is power, power to do great good, or great evil. Sin would have us choose evil, in an attempt to turn the Light that was made in the beginning to darkness. For Sin, Death, is the darkening of all things good. Food, drink, sex, beauty, sound, touch, worship, on and on and on. So often I abuse these things, and in my deceived mind turn them to crooked purposes, breading death rather than life. Yet I see one who did not do so. In the life of my King, Jesus, I see a man without sin — a man who loosed the chains of death, and brought life wherever He went. Jesus showed us that there is a Way. Sin shall have no dominion over us.
And so, I think not that our sins offend or hurt God, but rather they sadden Him. It would seem to me that our Lord, knowing what harm is done to us, His children, and to His world, when Sin wins a battle in our lives, that He is grieved to His heart when we choose this darkness over the light that He freely offers. With outstretched hands our loving Father seems to plead with us: “Beloved, trust me: that way is death. But only follow me, and you shall have life, and life abundant.”
Beloved, the choice is in your hands and mine. Lord, grant us the strength to choose rightly, and to live in Your kingdom of light ever while here on this earth.
— from my journal, 22nd of June, 2022