My Identity in Christ is Not So Fragile

Here is a trustworthy saying, St. Paul writes: “Christ came into the world to save sinners — of whom I am the worst” (1 Timothy 1:15). He saw no contradiction between Christ saving sinners, and himself being not only one of them but the worst of them. If Christ came to save sinners, then please let me be counted among them, even the worst of them — that I might be saved. This is not an encouragement to sin but quite the opposite. St. John said: 

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father — Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:1-2)

Again, John sees no contradiction between Christ being the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the whole world and the recognition that it is yet possible for us to sin. And if (when) we do, we have an Advocate with the Father — Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. That is a wonderful promise and comfort, and an encouragement to bring it all before the Lord. To confess our sins, to admit how screwed up we are, how poorly we behave, does not offend the Lord. It honors the Lord and appropriates his promise. Every week in the Anglican Church we make this Prayer of Confession:

Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.

We pray this not because we do not believe the grace of God or the gospel of Christ but because we do. We are counting on it. We want God’s help to delight in his will and walk in his ways, because we find so often — daily, not just weekly — that we don’t. Even if I am unaware that I have sinned in thought or word or deed this week, in what I have done or have left undone, I take it as a given that I have — which is much more likely than that I haven’t — and look to God’s forgiveness and help concerning it.

We often tend to think of sin as the infraction of a law, but it is really the brokenness of a relationship, turning away from God, from others, even from ourselves, from who we truly are in Christ. It is a curving in upon ourselves and away from others. We often leave behind us a trail of broken relationships. Broken by things we have done, or said, or thought about others; or by things we ought to have done but failed to do, because of thoughtlessness or neglect, or indifference toward the plight of others.

My identity in Christ is not so fragile that I cannot admit I am still screwed up and need his help daily. Indeed, my identity in Christ is not fragile at all — precisely because it is in Christ. It is his doing, not mine.

Lord, have mercy and help me, 
because I want to be like Jesus, 
to live as he lived and love 
as he has loved. Amen.