For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. (Romans 7:15-17, ESV)
During recent televised tournaments, TaylorMade has aired a commercial with the familiar line, “There’s the one shot that keeps bringing you back.” In the ad, this sets us up for more questions: Why do we say this? Are we only looking for one magical shot among the 70 to 100 (or more) we hit in a round? By no means will we hit one hundred percent of our shots perfectly, but why can’t it be five, ten, or more shots that make us want for more?
If only one shot has the power to bring us back for more golf, what does it take to turn back to God when we miss the mark time and time again? Like the apostle Paul, we do what we don’t want to do (sin) more often than we want to admit.
I like to say that golf is a game of good misses. I have produced some low rounds without hitting one perfect shot. And I have signed for some mediocre scores despite a high number of quality shots. Golf if fickle that way. We attempt a fade, and the ball hooks instead.
Sin is often recognized as a behavior, a word, or an attitude that goes against what we understand to be godly or holy according to the word of God. Murder, lying, stealing, abuse, and covetousness are examples of sin behaviors. Spoken words like name-calling, racial slurs, slander rattle the sin bucket. And resentment, bitterness, and unforgiveness are sinful heart attitudes.
We can’t force grace. It is wordless. Nor is it an attitude.
While these categories help us understand what sin is, the impact and heart of sin remains hidden. In his book, The Shaking of the Foundations, Paul Tillich writes, “Sin is separation.” Before it ever becomes an action, sin is a state. Tillich continues, “We know that we are estranged from something to which we really belong, and with which we should be united.” Sin is a state of estrangement from ourselves, others, and God.
Our hope for the expanse of this separation is found in Paul’s letter to the Romans, “Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Romans 5:20).
Grace.
We can’t force grace. It is wordless. Nor is it an attitude. Grace strikes us when a “stroke of light breaks into our darkness, and it is as if a voice were saying, ‘you are accepted’” (Tillich). In this light we have nothing to seek and nothing to perform. We may not be different and yet everything is transformed. In the wake of this light, we can experience reunion with ourselves, others, and God.
Sin and grace coexist within us. One separates and the other unites.
—
Tracy Hanson
June 24, 2021
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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