When I was born again, not only did I receive forgiveness and the Holy Spirit, God provided me with a pair of wide-angle singlasses. The whole world looked a lot different when I wore them. Everything I encountered was colored black or white, sin or not sin. I was 39 years old when this happened, so I had a lot of habits that looked black. I learned early on that the only course of action that gave me any peace went like this:
- see sin
- confess sin
- stop sin
- if that doesn’t work, repeat as necessary
I got good at repetition. But this plan only applied to my sin. I discovered that these glasses also highlighted the sin that was around me. It didn’t matter if it was a song on the radio, a book I was reading, a TV show, or a comment from a friend. The singlasses screamed “SIN!” So I changed the radio station, shut off the TV, or tossed the book.
It was a little trickier when it was a friend. They didn’t seem to appreciate my new-found knowledge, provided by my ever-present singlasses and my four-step plan. In fact, most of them got ticked off. So I had to develop a new course of action for other people’s sin. It goes something like this:
- see sin
- bite tongue
- pray that God will give them their own singlasses
There are exceptions to this, of course. At one extreme, there are times when we really do need to speak up: a friend wants your input, or a child is being beaten. At the other end of the spectrum, there are times when we just need to walk away: “come out of her, my people” and all that. Deciding which of these courses to follow, of course, is the tough part. That’s where step four comes in:
But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. James 1:5
