{"id":2110,"date":"2015-03-07T20:43:27","date_gmt":"2015-03-08T02:43:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/?p=2110"},"modified":"2015-03-07T20:49:30","modified_gmt":"2015-03-08T02:49:30","slug":"habitual-sin-and-perpetual-pardon-power-and-progress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/habitual-sin-and-perpetual-pardon-power-and-progress\/","title":{"rendered":"Habitual Sin and Perpetual Pardon, Power and Progress"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
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\"DANPRI\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Post by Nathan Rinne<\/em><\/div>\n

First of all, I\u2019m developing a Twitter habit (you can follow me here<\/a>, but please understand if I don\u2019t follow you).\u00a0 I resolved to pay less attention to blogs this year (nothing wrong with blogs, just need to be doing other things), but now I\u2019ve been sucked into reading Twitter posts (again, nothing wrong with Twitter\u2026.).\u00a0 Here\u2019s what\u2019s on my mind this morning\u2026.<\/p>\n

Lutheran convert Daniel Emery Price just yesterday sent out a tweet<\/a> that has become quite popular:<\/p>\n

\u201cShow me a man who won\u2019t admit he\u2019s a habitual sinner and I\u2019ll show you a man who has a low view of God\u2019s law.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I can see why it has quickly gained in popularity.\u00a0 That is some real jarring truth.\u00a0 Right after that, he sent out this gem from Luther:<\/p>\n

\u201cBeware of aspiring to such purity that you will not wish to be seen as a sinner, or to be one. For Christ dwells only in sinners.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As Lutherans are apt to say, this is most certainly true.\u00a0 Even as Luther told us to perpetually drive out the sin that remains within us (as the Israelites were to drive out the Jebusites), we are also to have a realistic view of our condition: to realize that we are all \u2013 Christians as well \u2013 slated to pay the wages of sin, and to die the \u201cfirst death\u201d (not the \u201csecond death\u201d though \u2013 eternal damnation).\u00a0 The root of our evil \u2013 original sin \u2013 will not be removed until the last day.<\/p>\n

It is worth stating this again: evil desire will remain \u2013 even as, apart from Christ, this desire itself wins us death and hell.<\/p>\n

Should such evil desire not bother us?\u00a0 No, it should bother us indeed \u2013 we need to realize our culpability and the wages that follow even for this.\u00a0 It is for this sin that Christ went to the cross\u2026.<\/p>\n

It is because of this that such sin must never lead us to despair, but always to Christ, the friend of sinners.\u00a0 As I also read this morning in one of the [freshly translated] Luther devotions from Lutheran Press<\/a>:<\/p>\n

When you are to pray, you may feel offended by your own unworthiness and think: Alas, I have too many sins and am worried that I may not be Christ\u2019s brother. Lash out and defend yourself as much as you can, lest you give room to these thoughts. For you are in grave danger of sinning against the Holy Spirit. Only say confidently and stubbornly against all this suggesting by the devil: I know full well what I am, and you do not need to tell or teach me this. For it is not up to you to judge me. Therefore, be gone, you miserable lying spirit! I shall not listen to you. Yet here is my Lord Christ, God\u2019s own Son, who died and rose from the dead for me. He tells me that all my sins are forgotten and that he now wants to be my brother and that, in turn, I am to be his brother. He wants me to believe this wholeheartedly without any wavering.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And we are free!\u00a0 But, we may often think, \u201cWhat about the evil desire that remains \u2013 and that creates the thoughts, words, and deeds by which we hurt our neighbors and offend God?\u201d\u00a0 Is there any hope at all for improvement here?\u00a0 Even if the evil root \u2013 \u201cold Adam\u201d \u2013 will remain?<\/p>\n

There certainly is, otherwise the Apostle Paul would never say to the Ephesians, for example, that \u201csexual immorality and any impurity or greed should not even be heard of among you, as is proper for saints.\u201d (Eph. 5:3).\u00a0 We should believe in spiritual progress not because we detect some of this in our own life, but because the Scriptures assert that Christians are those who are increasingly transformed into His image (see 2 Cor. 3:18).<\/p>\n

But how does this genuine progress take place?\u00a0 A couple key points.<\/p>\n

First and foremost, there is the medicine of the word of God and the sacraments.\u00a0\u00a0As Luther says in his explanation to the third commandment: \u201cWe should fear and love God that we may not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred, and gladly hear and learn it.\u201d\u00a0Here is where we receive our bread \u2013 the words that are Spirit and life.\u00a0(particularly in the words of Christ crucified for sinners).<\/p>\n

Second, we can pray not only using simple words like \u201cthank you\u201d or \u201chelp\u201d (sometimes very desperately) but in ways that remind us always of God\u2019s eagerness to show us and others pardon and power.\u00a0 In my own life, I have found it helpful to pray the following prayer when dealing with one of my habitual sins, impatience and anger, with my five boys:<\/p>\n

\u201cLove is patient, love is kind\u2026. Christ is for me \u2013 forgiven.\u00a0 Christ is in me \u2013 forgive them.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Holy Spirit, make us thine in the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

FIN<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"DANPRI\"<\/p>\n

\"DANPRI\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Post by Nathan Rinne First of all, I\u2019m developing a Twitter habit (you can follow me here, but please understand if I don\u2019t follow you).\u00a0 I resolved to pay less attention to blogs this year (nothing wrong with blogs, just need to be doing other things), but now I\u2019ve been sucked into reading Twitter posts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2184,"featured_media":2111,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[218,221,294],"class_list":["post-2110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-sanctification","tag-simul-iustus-et-peccator","tag-sin"],"yoast_head":"\nHabitual Sin and Perpetual Pardon, Power and Progress<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Post by Nathan Rinne First of all, I\u2019m developing a Twitter habit (you can follow me here, but please understand if I 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