It is not that sin becomes easier, which it does, but that the sins we choose present us with a more narrow set of choices down the road. This does not mean to suggest at all that we are neutral or without sin until we choose to sin but that the sins we choose predict the sinful choices we face down the road in life. The old expression is you are what you eat and, well, that is exactly what sin does. It makes us what we choose until the only choices left to us are defined by those first choices. When once we find ourselves at ease with sin and evil, it eventually leaves us without a thought about making those same choices again until we no longer see things in terms of evil and good but in the context of what we know and have chosen previously against what we do not know. Good becomes the stranger to even the Christian caught up in besetting sin and evil becomes that which is most familiar and even friendly to us.
To the sinner by nature, virtue is always the stranger but when vice becomes that which we know best, we end up in bondage to the choices of vice alone. The lie and deception which we have come to call normal is that only certain thoughts, words, and deeds dwell in the realm of morality and the rest are amoral. The truth is that every thought, word, and deed is the domain of morality. By our decisions we are always revealing who we are -- the thoughts we choose to entertain, the words we choose to speak, and the actions we choose to take. This is radical but not new and it goes back to Gregory of Nyssa. Whereas the age is always telling us to become comfortable with who we are, how we think, what we say, and what we do, the Scriptures and the work of the Spirit is leading us on a path of recreation, making ever new by daily contrition and repentance the person created in Christ Jesus for good works. While the age is telling us to become comfortable with all that we are in the moment, God is at work in us fitting us for His Kingdom and forming us for holiness that reflects and has its source in His own goodness and mercy and purity. The world has no higher purpose for us than becoming ourselves, even if that is our worst selves, but God is making us into His own, the new that will not become complete until the end of the age or our own end in death. Then what was begun in us is revealed not simply for the rest to see but so that we can see ourselves -- something we struggle to do in this mortal life but will see plainly in the life to come.
This is why what we do matters, why forgiveness is not for big sins but for every sin, and why the remembrance of our baptism is not the observance of an anniversary or birthday but the daily path to progress toward the future already planned out for us before the foundation of the world. Choosing ends up making our choices. By the power of the Holy Spirit, the choices for good teach us to desire and become comfortable in the realm of virtue and goodness. By the power of the evil one, the choices for evil teach us to desire sin and become comfortable in the realm of evil and corruption. No one is saying that our actions earn God's favor but living in God's favor defines our actions. No one is saying that we contribute to our salvation but living as the saved reveals that we are children of God. Our neighbor needs to see this, to be sure, but so do we.
1 comment:
You said, “By our decisions we are always revealing who we are, the thoughts we choose to entertain, the words we choose to speak, and the actions we choose to take.” I cannot resist applying these words to the events of this week, in particular the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a young Christian man who spoke the truth to a generation of young and old, and was killed because his message reflected his faith in Christ, a high regard for living by moral laws of conduct, and his enthusiasm in distinguishing logic from the delusions of a society grown perverse and wicked. I have watched many of Charlie Kirk’s video taped encounters with young students, and his kindness, wit, empathy, and knowledge, coupled with common sense and logic, made him a giant among his peers. But more importantly, as Ted Cruz, former Senator noted, “he made it cool for young people to freely express points of view that challenged society.” I think Charlie Kirk was wise beyond his 31 years, and a blessing from Providence at this time and in this place. A movement started and a cause began, perhaps a needed backlash against what our academics and Hollywood, and activists have been teaching for too long. They have been busy deconstructing all that is good; our faith in Christ, our traditions, our love of family, our freedom to speak, our language and pronouns. Charlie Kirk was a voice for the way back, and millions have joined him, been energized, emboldened, and determined to dismiss failure in the face of evil. May the Lord help us to “choose to make our choices” on the side of truth, and to His glory. Soli Deo Gloria.
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