As anticipated, I got lots of responses, both pro and con, for my post yesterday. Some were hilarious, some were serious. I suppose those serious folks are most concerned about me being unrepentant about splashing the cyclist. I cannot deny that I don’t feel bad about it at all and if I had it to do over again I would do it again. I felt he got what he deserved for selfishly holding up traffic on a rainy Friday when everyone was getting off work.
Assuming it was a sin to splash this dude, what consequences will I entail? I will not lose my salvation, but my daily walk with the Lord will be lessened.
Ponder this example: Imagine standing by a south window on a cold winter day. The air is frigid with a harsh North wind, but the sun is shining through the window. It begins to warm you, and you bask in its glow. Then you pull the drape closed. Instantly, the warmth stops. Is it because the sun has stopped shining? No, it is because something has come between you and the sun. The moment you open the drape, the sun can warm you again. But it is up to you. The barrier is inside the house, not outside.
That is my folksy way of looking at God refusing to allow us His warmth when we disobey His commands. We can never have the relationship God intends for us if we allow sin to block His light out. Some sins are just too much for me to take through and wrong or not, I just do it. One time a few years ago I was going to a Christian conference (of all places) and had stopped for a burger at Burger King along the way. I noticed a little kid about eight or nine years old being screamed at by what I assumed to be his longhaired trashy-looking father. The next thing I knew that punk slapped that little boy right in the mouth. It was so loud it sounded like a 22-cal. bullet.
I leapt to my feet and went over there and hit that guy as hard as I could right in the mouth knocking him to the floor. Blood was spurting out of his mouth and nose, and I stood over him and told him, (among other things), that he was a coward and told him to pick on someone his own size and then I violently kicked him. He just sat on the floor rocking back and forth with his head between his knees and not saying a word. I told his son to never let anyone hit him like that. Several customers pulled me away and he waited until I was safely back at my table and then he grabbed his little boy by the hand and hurriedly left.
So, what would Jesus have done? I’m sure he would not have hit that guy in the mouth. That event triggered me and reminded me of my father beating on me when I was that age. I didn’t regret hitting him at the time and I don’t regret it now. The only consternation I had about it was getting the blood off my white shirt for my conference and I wish I would have slapped him for good measure to let him know how that felt.
I know we should always emulate Jesus, but Jesus is God and perfect in every way. I’m not, and I realize that His laws are perfect and holy and that it is impossible for me to adhere to them in the same manner as God. That doesn’t give me the right to sin at will, but I think God understands these incidents far better than I can imagine. I am sorry I let Him down as His son, but at least in those temptations, I lost the battle.
Unconfessed sin works like that drape. God delights in His children. He desires to bless us, have fellowship with us, and shower His approval upon us. He wants us to bask in the warmth of His smile. But when we choose sin, we build a barrier between ourselves and our Holy Father. We close the drape on fellowship with Him and begin to feel the chill of spiritual loneliness. When we stubbornly refuse to repent, we will be disciplined by our loving Father. The Lord’s discipline can be severe, even leading to death when a heart has hardened to the point of no return. God longs for restored fellowship even more than we do. He pursues us, disciplines us, and loves us even in our sin. But He leaves our free will intact. We must open the drape by confessing and repenting.
I have been disciplined more times than I can remember and don’t expect I will ever lead a perfect life until I transition into heaven. Thank God for His patience with me is all I can say.
Hebrews 12:7
It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? . . . For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.