While outside last evening, I noticed newly acquired scratches on Adah’s skin. Now that she’s outside playing all the time, she’s more prone to get hurt by the elements of nature. It was almost hard to believe that her perfect little skin now had blemishes.
Today while out walking, I noticed her skin again and my mind quickly turned to the condition of Adah’s heart, of my heart, and of the hearts of all humanity. We are all full of scrapes and bruises deep down inside.
It’s difficult sometimes, in the midst of a culture that defines sin as something “bad”, or something that brings harm to oneself or another person, to consider sin being in our hearts. It’s often seen as an action that leads to a negative consequence. Just the other day, Adah and I were at the playground when some elementary age children came out to play. The one child said to the other, “You are a cheater; you will NEVER be a good person!” Ouch. That could hurt. But, the truth is none of us are good people; there is none righteous. We are all cheaters, liars, adulterers, etc. We are all sinners and it’s not about which sin we struggle with – it’s the fact that we are sinners. It’s about the condition of our hearts.
Even when Adah was born, we knew her heart was sinful. That’s what Scripture teaches and that’s been affirmed in her actions. We often tell her, “Honey, we know it’s hard to choose right. We have the same struggles. That’s why we need Jesus’ help.”
In order to appreciate the cross, I think we have to accept the debt of our sin. When I look upon the face of Jesus upon the cross at Gethsemane, I see myself and what I deserved. When I see Him disfigured and in agony because of separation from His Father, I know He did that for me. “The debt was so great, that while man alone owed it, only God could pay it.” (Anselm) He paid my ransom and yours.
I’m just astounded that only Jesus’ perfect, sinless life could pay the debt for our sin. We could never come close to being able to pay that debt.
I love this quote by Sinclair Ferguson: “The cross is the heart of the gospel; it makes the good news the good news. Christ died for us; He stood in our place before God’s judgment seat; He has borne our sins. God has done something on the cross which we could never do for ourselves. But God does something to us as well for us through the cross. He persuades us that He loves us.”
So, here we are , scrapes and bruises, yet fully redeemed, cleansed, and forgiven when we trust in Christ paying the price for our sin.
I’m ok with imperfections—with the nature that exists in me—because it reminds me how much I need Him.
