“ They answered Him, ‘we are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say ‘you will be made free?’’”- John 8:33

         I think a lot of times in our Christian bubbles we are really quick to point out the God’s goodness and forgiveness, so much so that in a way we take advantage of it, before you come at me with pitchforks let me explain.
      God’s forgiveness covers all multitudes of sin, but it does not grant us the ability to sin freely. Many times I’ve seen people, or I myself have used the forgiveness of the cross to justify actions that I knew where sins. I’d convince myself that it isn’t really a big deal, it’s just a small sin, not anything big, Jesus will forgive me anyways so does it really even matter....right?
       The root problem of this isn’t the sin (though that should be directly addressed) it’s the heart behind the motive of committing the sin. Convincing yourself that since you’re going to be forgiven anyways does not take the sin away from your actions. I have had my “abraham descendants” moments before, I’m a christian, I’ve already been forgiven, so what will it really matter if I say a lie, or criticize, or am disobedient to my parents, I’m already forgiven, it’s not going to really affect anything....but it does.
        Your heart changes when you take on that mentality, you become more and more blind to sin and more and more self-righteous. You can see the plank in your brother’s eye as clear as the day but you convince yourself that the giant oak tree sticking out of your eye, is just a tiny splinter, not really anything worth getting looked at anyways.
         The weight of the sacrifice that Jesus committed on the cross diminishes to nothing more than a “get our of jail free” card. We lose the appreciation and the healthy fear of God that makes you realize just how little you are and how big He is.
        Even though we are already Christian’s does not mean that we are already perfect, we are forgiven, but we are going to continue to sin which means that we are still going to have to approach the cross and lay down whatever sin we are struggling with at the moment and ask for forgiveness. It’s a daily relationship,we’ll sin daily and need to read His word daily to continue to grow in His truth and love.
         We are not above anyone else, we are not to take advantage of the Gift that He has given us, but stand in awe at the fact that we have been given it. Let’s not be entitled and think ourselves superior so much to the fact that we begin to believe that we don’t need His continual forgiveness and Love.

Application: I will spend 30 minutes in prayer asking God to reveal if I’ve been minimizing any sin, and ask God to reveal to me a way of dealing with it in a genuine fashion.