What It Takes

 “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.”     Hebrews‬ ‭6‬:‭4‬-‭6‬ ‭NIV‬

   How seriously do we take sin?  How seriously do I take sin?  When I sin, what does it do to Jesus?  When the Passion of the Christ came out, I remember watching it for the first time.  It shook me.  We speak of the death of Jesus in almost sterile or storybook terms, without the depth of agony and pain. But there it was in front of me, hearing the lashes strike His back.  Seeing the blood flowing down.  Looking at the disfigurement of His face.  Hearing the struggle to catch His breath. My heart ached because MY sin did that.  It was so intense that when we used a brief clip of it for our Good Friday service there were some people who deemed it inappropriate.  How could we expose the tender hearted or children to such a scene?

   But that is what sin did.  And does.  The writer to the Hebrews reminds us that if we experience a taste of God’s grace yet fail to embrace it in true repentance, continuing to sin as if grace gives us license to do so, we are crucifying Jesus over and over and over again.  Every sin I commit drives a nail in Him.  Every sin pushes the crown of thorns down into His head.  Every sin causes shame and disgrace to Him.  Every sin breaks the heart of Jesus.  

I determined to not turn away.  That ugliness brings my sin into focus in such a way that I do not want to do that to Jesus ever again.  Rather than a license to sin more, grace becomes the power to sin less.  Mercy is my bridge to holy living.  And my only hope is in the resurrection power of Christ.

My prayer is for every one of us to take our sin far more seriously.  Satan wants us to see it as if it is no big deal.  It is. It caused (and causes) pain to Jesus.  Every sin.  Let’s not turn away from Him but turn to Him.  As Peter says, “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”   ‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭2‬:‭24‬ ‭NIV‬‬

     

 “After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?” “Yes, he does,” he replied. When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?” “From others,” Peter answered. “Then the children are exempt,” Jesus said to him. “But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.””   Matthew‬ ‭17‬:‭24‬-‭27‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Jesus is always practical in the ways He uses our lives.  It may not seem like a spiritual act to pay your taxes, but Jesus made it one.  He indicates that we as HIs children would normally be free from taxation, but since we don’t want to cause offense, we will pay our taxes to whom they are do.  It is insignificant.  Except for the fact by doing so, we keep the door open for communication about the Kingdom.  And that is worth it all.

Never consider little things insignificant.  Jesus provides.  We pay.  They ask.  Jesus provides.  We proclaim.  They ask.  It is a continuous cycle of using the money, circumstances and opportunities He provides to spread the Good News of the Gospel.  Keep fishing and see what He provides.