The one and only unforgivable sin…
Feb 13th, 2010 by ljkim
The one unforgivable sin in the Bible is (basically) the sin of refusing forgiveness… Everything can be forgiven except that. If you’re not sure why – just think about it for a bit. Now there are plenty of times in dealing with friends and family and clients, that you might feel like – “this problem is such a big deal, that we can’t go forward until you deal with it.” In other words, we have our own list of unforgivable sins – and if someone steps on one, we cannot move forward in that relationship until it’s settled… Can you think of an example of that? I’ve known people who literally lied or drank so much or were so addicted to poor behavior that everything in my heart screamed out “No! You can’t do that! I’m cutting you off from friendship unless you deal with this!”
Now there is a place for things like interventions…where friends take a hard stance against a friend’s self-destructive behavior – for their own good. But in order for those to work, they’re pretty much one shot deals – and sometimes people have more issues than that…
What I’ve learned though is: Jesus says, ‘Do you really think a person can’t grow in godliness or grace until they deal with their most blatant sins? You (meaning me) grew in grace and got closer to God before you laid one finger to correct your pride. You (me again) are still experiencing God’s friendship even though there are blatant problems with your soul!’
What this means is, as long as a person is open to forgiveness and mercy – there is hope and opportunity to experience mercies upon mercies… Jesus’ church is not about good people being good – but broken people experiencing life-transforming grace… The only thing that could short circuit that is believing you don’t need mercy and grace.
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