Don't get me wrong, sin must be punished, and it will be. But not yet. In fact Jesus himself said that he didn't come to the world to condemn it, nor to punish it, there is a time for that, at the end, but in the meantime, God is having the sale of the ages. Everything must go. All the righteousness and Holiness of God, freely given to any would would believe and obey.
And I wonder sometimes what if we were less concerned about punishing sin, and more concerned with how can we show the radical grace of God. After all, is it not "his grace that keeps us from falling"?
We punish sin because we are afraid of it. Yes it is wrong, yes it is evil, but it's not our job to punish evil. Our job is this; To be a minister of reconciliation. If we were to punish sin, the only place to start would be ourselves. And without the grace of God covering us, we would not go any further than that.
God is the only qualified judge, and the only legitimate executioner. This may sound wrong to call him this, but He is. (he has promised to those who desire life that it is theirs on one condition: Have faith in Jesus). When we take it upon ourselves to punish sin, we stand in the place of God.
It would be messy, it would be hard, it would mean a radical faith in God's justice, and a hope in Him. But this is the standard isn't it?
What if in our desire to punish sin, we actually encourage it in the lives of our victims? When someone does wrong, we actually limit their rehabilitation by choosing the easier option to lock them out and punish, instead of walk with them into truth and love.
What we fear we become, what we fear has power over us.
That is why we fear nothing but God, because we become like Him, and he alone in His Justice, Goodness and Grace has power over us. When we fear the enemy eventually we will submit to him. When we fear sin, we will eventually submit to it.
Radical grace. Radical love, Radical trust.
Feel free to converse with me on this if you disagree, or if you agree, I realise this may not sit well with people, and this is only a blog. There is only so much you can put on here, misunderstanding can often occur.
Peace with you,
Daniel