Starry Nights: Random Book

Plates

Once I saw a Christian tell somebody that it didn't matter at all how much they sinned because God would forgive them.

I didn't respond to them because the person they were talking to shut them down by saying
"That doesn't mean I can't improve." And continued to look for help.

But I want to say now, that I have thought about it, and here is what I want to say.

God is merciful, he is forgiving. He will forgive your sins if you ask him to.
But you need to understand that whatever sin you committed was a wrongdoing.

Once you understand that what you did was wrong you don't just go and do it again with a clear conscience just because you were forgiven.

We are sinful creatures, we commit sins, and we have sins that us as individuals find hardest to fight. We might commit the same sin many times.
But we have to at least try to beat our sinful nature.

Here is a metaphor that I think will explain how I see this.

You live with your parents, that have lots of very nice plates.
You accidentally drop one and apologize, they forgive you.

You accidentally drop more on various other days, you say sorry and they always forgive you.
Eventually they tell you to be more careful with the plates.

But then you start dropping plates on purpose.
You've seen others drop plates all the time on purpose, whether out of boredom or curiousity or anger or rebellion. It's normal and it's 'fine' plus they always forgive you, right?

Your parents are disappointed but when you say sorry they forgive you.

Sometimes you still drop plates on accident, they are very fast to forgive this, but sometimes you do it on purpose and this really hurts their feelings.
Why wouldn't you appreciate their forgiveness?

You've started to really like throwing down this expensive stuff and do it on the daily.
Now, you only say sorry half the time, and when you do there's no value in the words, you aren't sorry.

If you were sorry for dropping plates, you'd still drop some on accident, but you would be more careful and be truly sorry when you say that you are.

Day after day of smashing their things, your parents will forgive you over and over, but they know you're not really sorry, will they forgive you if the 'sorry' is just for show? Maybe they won't.

Sometimes you don't understand why something is a sin, but it still is, you must trust God with all you have. Trust that he knows what's best for you.

So even if you don't understand why what you did was a sin, say you're sorry and be real about it. Be more careful.

Imagine how bad it feels to see your beloved child throw those plates against the floor every day and take advantage of you for forgiveness. That's just not a fair relationship.

I hope you understand, and I'm not going to attack the person who said that, but I will pray that they can come to understand too.

Prayer is stronger than words.