The God who doesn't count your sins

The one who isn't taking notes and isn't taking anything personally…

In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul writes about love.  It's not the generic, one-size-fits-all kind of love - I love my wife, I love Jesus, I love tacos, etc.  Instead it's the kind of love that is and does some specific things and doesn't do some specific things.  Read it for yourself below.

Love is patient, love is kind. 

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, 

it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.

It has been said often that Paul is describing love AND God.  Or God's love.  However you want to say it.  Paul is saying that this is the kind of love God has for us and it's the kind of love you can and should have toward each other.

We can only give what we've received.  

In this letter of 1 Corinthians, Paul is helping the people in that local collection of believers in how they interact with each other when they get together as a group around their common ground in Jesus.  They just are NOT getting it yet.  

They're getting together to continue on with whatever approach they had to being with other people in a religious setting.  Some were from a Jewish background, some from different nations or cultures and different God or temple experiences.

They did among this new gathering of believers whatever they were doing before in their previous religious background kinds of ceremonies or gatherings.  Chaos was ensuing.  

Some wanted to share a group song.  Some wanted to speak "in tongues".  Some wanted to take the opportunity to share a really long idea and to monopolize the time.  Others wanted to keep asking questions and challenging everything that was being said.  It was all well intentioned selfishness.

Between addressing some specific challenges they were facing in these gatherings, Paul takes a very important moment to share what their motivation should be with each other, especially as they gather on occasion as believers.  And that is when he shares what we know as 1 Corinthians 13.

More on that idea of what to do "as a church gathering" at another time, but this love thing...

One of the cool things I remember learning years back was to take 1 Corinthians 13's discussion of what love does and replace the word love with God and then read it again.  And after you do that, replace the word love with your own name.  

That little exercise shows or reminds us of how God is with us AND how his work in us shapes us to be with all the people around us in life.  

I think we think it's hard to believe that this describes how God is with us, but it is true.  All those things are true about him - even that line about not keeping a record of wrongs.  

It's true; he doesn't.  Like at all.  Paul repeats this over in 2 Corinthians 5 in a different discussion and he said God was in the world through Jesus, reconciling the world to himself and NOT counting our sins against us.

Through Jesus, the Old Law was dealt with.  It's no longer held against us who have accepted the grace and mercy that comes through Jesus.  He doesn't count sins because they're all forgiven and he doesn't deal with us on the basis of law keeping or law breaking.

That flies completely in the face of how I was raised.  From my growing up the thinking was, "Of COURSE God still keeps a record of all your wrongs!  How else would he know whether or not you're going to heaven or hell?  He is a God of justice and will reward you on the basis of your good deeds versus your bad deeds.  He's just like all the rest of us.  We're gonna treat you like you deserve to be treated, based on how good you act."

And there are other quotes from people I could put in there, but I think the idea is made.  Most of the people who said things like that were saying that God agreed with them and that this is the way they wanted it to be and so God is that way.  Some of them would even agree that the older brother in the story of the prodigal son was right and that both the dad and the younger brother needed to pay for their misguided and awful choices.

We want God to be like us, not the other way around.

But he doesn't comply.  He keeps no record of wrongs for those of us who trust him and depend on him.  He loves differently than we do in our limited state.

________________________________________

So what about all those places in scripture where Paul and others talk about NOT sinning?  Like where Paul say to "put to death" certain sinful behaviors or attitudes and things like that?  Is the Bible being inconsistent and crossing itself up?

No, God can still NOT count sins against us AND still want us to not sin anymore.  We'll unpack the scriptures and the theological ideas about this in a few times from now, but suffice to say just because those ideas seem contradictory to our current religious culture, they aren't to God.

________________________________________

So, for now - quit keeping a record of sins and stop trying to stay "prayed up" with God all the time.  It's not how things work with Him.

Be grateful to him that he's forgiven all sin, past present and future - and just say that instead - "Lord, thank you that you forgave all sin, even those that I just did.  Help me trust and depend on you and to look to you for my needs to be fulfilled, etc..."

And let it go.  Quit thinking about it.  He's not ever bringing that up again.  Ever.

The preacher might.  The youth minister might.  The elder or bible class teacher might.  Your mom or dad might, but God is done with counting sins and wrongs against those who trust and depend on him.

Remember those people who bring those things up again, specifically or generally, ARE NOT God, nor do they necessarily represent what God thinks or what is true.

The Pharisees and teachers of the law vehemently disagreed with Jesus and the apostles regularly because they felt they spoke for God.  They were wrong.  People can still be wrong today and usually along the same lines of wanting to say what God thinks or doesn't think about sin.

Remember how Paul describes us in his letters.  We are people who have been adopted into God's family.  We are his special treasures.  We are HIS inheritance.  We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing already.  We are the place where God lives.  We are already seated with him in the heavenly realms.  And there's a bunch more we can unpack later.

God isn't keep a list of your behaviors like Santa Claus.  He's not mad at you or holding a grudge.

Be at peace.