The seeds of sin sown in the fields of this world reaps brokenness.

This absolute truth of every man and woman born, having sinned and missed the mark of God is evidenced by the certainty of death in our lives (Psalm 90:10). The one somber truth as a child is born into this broken world is this: one day this child would also die. Nothing else is a guarantee at that moment. Everything else is merely hope. Yet it confounds me as to how the almost natural human response is to be mostly dismissive, frivolous or nonchalant of death. The one certainty in life avoided like the plague with a sense of cowardliness to even face the prospect of it. Ignoring reality will not change it, rather it makes us that much more ill-prepared and ignorant. Alex Honnold, an American free-solo climber, who has scaled multiple 1000-foot plus walls without any safety gear said this about death: “Anybody could conceivably die on any given day, but most people don’t consider that in their day-to-day lives. For soloing, it’s just far more in your face, and you have to accept it.” For Christians, it can be said that death is far more in our faces compared to the average human being. Whether we are being reminded in the Sunday sermons, or in the Biblical text or even in our prayers. The reality of life after death is ingrained deep in the Christian psyche. For me, it was my Mom who taught me as a young lad to make sure that I have no unconfessed sin before going to bed. But it was always because: “What if Christ returned tonight?” Sin and confession therefore invariably over time became attached for me to being saved from eternal torment.

No one in their right minds would choose eternal torment over Heaven. Being prepared to meet the Lord every moment must therefore be the right-Christian lifestyle. The reality of sin and judgement remains the same whether I am young or old (Hebrews 9:27). But maturity in Christ sheds more light on our perspective of this undeniable reality of sin. We have to remember that when we sin, it’s not just me sinning against other people. But me sinning against the Holy God (Psalm 51:4). And this sinning, invokes a response from God. One of mercies, wrath, judgement, longsuffering, faithfulness, justice and grief. And grief may seem a strange inclusion in this list to some and maybe that is because we haven’t even begun to understand the nature of His love. As Paul implores the church in Ephesus in Ephesians 4:30 by saying: Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, which comes in the context of him talking about sin in the Christian walk (Ephesians 4:17-32). And Ephesus is what you can consider to be a mature group of believers, with the overwhelming emphasis placed on spirituality throughout this epistle of Paul. Further, when James talks about the life-cycle (or rather death-cycle!) of sin in James 1:13-16. He tells us that this vicious cycle of sin begins and ends with us. Words like conceived and bear forth are used by him as he compares it with the birthing process of a child. Bringing forth death sounds quite ironic to me. Isn’t this process of birthing supposed to be about life giving? Not always as we see. Sometimes, a mother can bring forth a stillborn child into this world. A stark and cruel reminder of the brokenness that surrounds us. It’s cold grasp excluding none. And I can only imagine the grief the mother bears in her heart for her child. Her deep yearning to hold her child now stolen away from her in a moment. Isn’t our Father’s love for each of us immeasurably greater than this? (Isaiah 49:15) Isn’t His yearning for us much deeper and therefore his grief immeasurably deeper? (Jeremiah 31:20) The old testament David, who did not have the Pentecostal experience in his life and with a history of terrible sins against God. This old covenant man would have a better understanding of sin than many new covenant Christians today, as he cried out in his sinful sorrow: And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me (Psalm 51:11). What does all this mean? That we simply continue to wallow in this place of tears, remorse and regret? No, rather we take it to the cross, to Him who took upon Himself our sorrows (Isaiah 53:1). And at this place of divine exchange, we find true repentance. We better (though never fully) understand the price Christ has paid. Sin then becomes not merely about punishment, but about a broken fellowship with a tender-hearted God.