The Weight of God's Law 

     As a child, my mother once told me, “It seems that the greatest of Christians were once the greatest of sinners.”  What she said made a lot of sense, especially after hearing the testimonies of many individuals in the church I had attended as a child.  These very devout Christians told stories of their prior lives.  They were not proud of their wicked ways.  They told of how they had heard of God and had come to the realization that they had broken His Laws.  They became ashamed and the more they sinned, evermore the weight of God's Law bore down on their backs - driving them to their knees.  They were helpless in their ability to rid themselves of the shame they were feeling, for they knew they were guilty and on the road to a real Hell.  They were powerless in the face of an all knowing, all seeing, righteous God whom they came to fear because of their sin.  When finally, in their brokenness, as they had thrown off their pride and arrogance, their only recourse was to sincerely and humbly repent and ask God to forgive them.

     When these sinners realized that this great God in Heaven had actually died and taken the punishment for all of their - Law breaking, they were so grateful to Him that they dedicated their lives to serving Jesus, following Him where ever He led for the rest of their lives.  What a small price to pay for such a great sacrifice that saved them from death and Hell.  These individuals truly became some of the greatest Christians that I had ever known.  They were full of zeal for evangelizing the lost and teaching God's Word.   

     As an adult I have realized that these "great sinners" that became "great Christians" were really not any different than any other Christian around me - including myself.  The only difference was, they seemed to have more truly and more deeply recognized the consequences of the sin in their lives.  Whether the sins were, in actuality, many or few, the consequences were the same.  The sacrifice was also still the same.  Jesus died for them.  These individuals that had committed the most or the greatest of sins were the ones that were the most appreciative of the sacrifice.  They became the most humble, the most steadfast, the less arrogant, of Christians.  Even though the consequences of sin had created a vast amount of problems in each of their lives, they committed their lives wholly unto Him because they knew that Christ Himself had endured the greatest consequence of all for their sins - death on the Cross of Calvary.   

     So, are those that needed to repent of only a few sins in their lives saved?  If they truly asked for forgiveness then God truly forgave them.  If they asked Jesus to be their Savior then Jesus is their Savior.  Whether a person has sinned once or a thousand times, they are still guilty of breaking God's Laws.  They still need to be delivered from the consequences of that sin.  The unfortunate thing is, many who feel that their small sins are inconsequential become the Christians that slide the most easily back into a life of sin.  Since the weight of God's Law may have never driven them to their knees, they may have never really and truly esteemed the sacrifice that it took to save them.  Even the word "save" has very little meaning.  They were saved from death and Hell by death on the cross.  However, many of these individuals only feel that they were saved from whatever problems they are experiencing right now in this world.  Therefore, when, as Christians, they find themselves dealing with pain, broken marriages, death of loved ones, they lose their "so called" love for the Lord.  He becomes the one who never helps, the one who abandons them and the one who is eventually not real.  What they have done is miss the whole purpose of His sacrificial death - to save them from Hell in the end, providing them with a means by which they can find true peace and happiness someday in Heaven. 

     Those that fall so easily may, in fact, never truly have repented in the first place.  The stony ground hearers that after being introduced to God's word become excited and may even recite the sinner's prayer, yet without sincerity.  They would never grow roots but would let the truth of God's Word wither and die in their hearts.  These are the arrogant who are too proud to admit to being lost in their sins.  These are the self-righteous who believe that they are basically good people - better than most.  That may be true for some and since their sins seem so small and inconsequential, why would they then need to bow before God and ask His forgiveness.  Even the actual saved among us who were guilty of few sins when they repented may become the most ineffectual of Christians because they have never really felt the fear that comes with the realization of their true guilt.  These are the Christians who are less likely to become the evangelists who will go to the extremes of dedicating their lives to Christ - just to help save one soul from certain death. 

     My mother was right.  The more a person feels they are unworthy of forgiveness, the more that forgiveness, when given, is appreciated.  Where the weight of God's Law bore down mightily upon the backs of great sinners until they were broken and on their knees, God's Grace abounded so much more.  Sin cannot compete with Grace.  Sin will never be larger than the love of Christ to forgive us.

© 2015 G. R. Workman  

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