Reckless

A dear friend of mine sent me a short sermon and this sermon was all about the bottom line of our identity as Christians.

The totality of this sermon was that our final identity should be only found in that Christ is within us.

Within this sermon the man speaking pulled up a book and read a quote from Tim Keller’s, The Reason for God.

The statement reads as this… “The essence of sin is not (primarily) the violation of laws but a wrecked relationship with God,” this statement was actually being quoted by Keller from a sermon preached by a woman of the name of Barbara Brown Taylor.

However, when the man whose sermon I was listening to read this statement he read it a little different than it was stated in the book.

He read the statement as this,

“the essence of sin is not (primarily) the violation of laws but a “reckless” relationship with God.”  

This simple word change deeply impacted my heart as I heard it.

As I thought about this and meditated on all that this means my heart was so drastically shifted in my view of sin.

As Christians we often see sin as this list of Do’s and Don’ts.

Now, there is the realness that there are many things in the christian life we should act on the conviction that the Holy Spirit places on us to abstain from certain choices and actions.  Even within the bible Paul says that all things are permissible but not all thing are beneficial (1 Cor 10:23)  and in that we should seek the Lord on what that means in our daily lives, we should ask what are those things that are not beneficial for my life Lord.

However, what if we began to look at sin differently?

What if we began to look at sin as not simply a list of things that will make us all that we are supposed to be if we call ourselves christian?

What if we saw sin as being reckless with our relationship with God.

Just as in a relationship with a family member, friend, or spouse, if we “sin”, (which is ultimately anything that brings about hurt to another or in this case, God), against one another over and over again without any lack of true remorse for not only the action but for the hurt that sin caused we ARE being reckless with that relationship.

What would it look like if we saw our relationship with the Lord as as much a real life relationship as we do those around us?

What if we saw sin not just as this list of do’s and don’ts that we have to accomplish?

Rather, if we could see that the things in which the Lord has called up and out of are based on the love he has for us.  And by this view,  us, as the ones He loves, when we choose not to leave those things behind for His love, we are repeatedly hurting our savoir and begin reckless with the most profound and unwavering relationship ever to exist.

What would it look like to no longer be reckless with our relationship with a God who loves us unendingly by choosing to be on the edge of sin over and over again?

I am beginning to see that by standing on the edge of sin, (using technicality as justification), or running full force into sin is as reckless as dabbling with or having a full out affair with the one we say until death do us part to… sin is careless and reckless and will only bring damage to the deep relationship and covenant that is supposed to be sacred and cherished. 

However, this is why repentance is so important to our relationship with the Lord.

Just as when we hurt the ones we love, we come to them and asked for that forgiveness and,  when in a healthy relationship, there is not only forgiveness but strength that comes from that experience together.

A deep truth and realizations that the strand of love and covenant that holds those two together only grows stronger and now is able to carry more weight than ever before.

This is the very purpose that repentance has in regards to being reckless with our relationship with our God.  

Repentance is the very act of righting the reckless of our lives each day.