BFD #8

Micah 7:18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of your possession?

I skipped last week (just like I skipped church...whoops), so I figured I ought to get back into the habit of writing my weekly BFD.

So the first thought that passed into my mind when reading this was "God forgives sin." But then I thought to myself...well, duh, right? There's got to be something less obvious and more thought provoking than THAT. So then I looked at the different parts of the verse, eventually settling with an emphasis on "Who is a God like you...?"

No, really. Who is a God like God? For thousands of years people believed in a malevolent and finicky god or gods who basically used humans as pawns in some strange little performance of the world. I'll admit, if you read the Old Testament, there is a significant number of times when God gets really pissed, but what is remarkable about the situation is not how it played out for thousands of years (we screw up, God gets pissed, we are accordingly rewarded for our misdeeds, etc). What is remarkable is how it ends.

We endure years of stupidity and failure and God finally steps up and says, "Okay, kids. I'm changing the rules, because clearly you don't get it. You can play the game (or whatever you want to call it) any way you want to, but in the end, I win. How do you like them apples? And no matter how much you screw up...I STILL win. Luckily for you, I like you guys, so I choose not to send you to the pits. Your new job is this: believe it. That's all. Believe it. The rest should follow suit. Okay, well I think my work here is done for now. If you need me, you know where to find me."

I kind of envision God as a sort of benevolent mob boss, who got really irritated with his loveable yet stupid hitmen. So he just changed the rules. Granted, he smacks them upside the head sometimes when they do something particularly stupid, but in the end, when the credits finally roll, we'll see a picture of them sitting around a pool at a barbecue drinking beer and telling jokes. Because God wins...end of story.

And no God has ever been known to pardon mistakes before they ever happen. And no God has ever loved His people quite like ours does. He took the emphasis off us and put it on Himself. Like lighting a flare on a moonless night. He says no matter how many times we trip and fall on our way towards the flickering light in the distance, what is important is that we get back up and try again. He knows we'll fall. Our eyes aren't sharp enough to see where we're going. What is important is that we recognize that the number of times we fall does not determine whether or not that light will keep burning for us. It will. The beacon is lit, peeps. And it's not going anywhere.

Who is a God like our God? No one. No one forgives and loves like our God. And we're really mean to each other. We point out every fault but our own, we quantify sin and qualify salvation. And we're so very wrong. Sin is sin. We do it all the time whether we choose it or do it unknowingly. A fib, a murder, adultery...no difference in the eyes of God. Is the goal perfection? No. I will continue to believe that attempting to interpret and follow all the laws of God is a lost cause. The quest to be perfect is a waste of your time. God lit the flare and said, "Forget the rules. New game, only one rule. Nothing you can do will help you win, but if you keep walking (even when you fall) you'll get here. I promise. BELIEVE IT."

"Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly, for He is victorious over sin, death, and the world. As long as we are here [in this world] we have to sin. This life is not the dwelling place of righteousness,  but, as Peter says,  we look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. It is enough that by the riches of God’s glory we have come to know the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world.  No sin will separate us from the Lamb, even though we commit fornication and murder a thousand times a day. Do you think that the purchase price that was paid for the redemption of our sins by so great a Lamb is too small? Pray boldly—you too are a mighty sinner." --Martin Luther