but for the grace of God
I got thinking about sin nature a while back. I was actually contemplating this phrase:
““...there, but for the grace of God, go I.””
You see, I had an older sister for 23 years. She came to live with us when I was 7 and passed away in 2010. She was beautiful and fun and one of my best friends. We had so much fun together! She also had a lot of baggage, struggled with mental illness and made some pretty bad choices. Please understand that my sister is dear to my heart and I say all of this with only love for her, but there were things in her life that served as a warning for me, deterring me from making some of the same choices she did. She was undoubtedly, more than a sister, more than a friend, but also a God given grace helping to shape my life. I have not always made all the best or right choices. My life is blessed, but certainly not perfect. I was thinking about her, wondering why God had allowed her to live the life she lived, to make the choices she made and why, in His mercy, He gave her to me to help shape my life. It dawned on me, that she had struggles and baggage, but that she also had blessings and grace abounding and that without her influence in my life, I likely would have made vastly different choices. God is good, and perfect, and provident and abounding in grace.
And it hit me, like a ton of bricks. Sin potential. We all have the exact same sin potential. Even the absolute sweetest among us have the potential for the vilest, most offensive sin in them, but for the grace of God.
And if you think for a moment that you are so much worse, that what you've done is unforgivable or if you think that you've got it together and you're doing pretty well, you are just so wonderfully wrong! It's not all about what we've done, but what we're capable of. I have a love-hate relationship with these verses from Matthew:
““You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.””
This is just so convicting for me. The insult is the same as the murder. The potential, the direction of my heart in that moment, they are the exact same. If I'm on that trajectory, I'm on it, regardless of how far I follow it. My heart has in it the ability to be on it. End of story, but for the grace of God.
Really I think the term sin nature can be broken into two terms: sin potential and sin consequence. That is to say that each of us has the same unlimited potential to sin. Each of us has already reached at least some portion of that full potential and so each of us is under the same consequence: death, eternal, but for the grace of God.
Oh, that beautiful grace, so completely undeserved and yet so freely given. My potential to sin is endless. My need for grace is endless. And, praise God, His supply of grace knows no bounds. Hallelujah!
