Where Sin exists Mercy abounds all the more

Where Sin exists Mercy abounds all the more

Do we worry about sin when our life has succumbed to or it makes it’s presence visible to our eyes?  There can be at some point throughout Lent something that awakens our moral disability and accuses our own conscience of a need to examine this disturbance.  Hopefully, if there is an urgent gnawing at the door to our mind to clear the cloudiness that has fallen upon us, we will reach for a lifesaver that will keep us from drowning in our own lake. 

We read from Paul’s letter to the Romans that where sin exists grace abounds, not in the same amount, but even in a greater abundance.  Just like we know that no matter how generous we may be God’s generosity will always exceed any effort we make at generosity.  We can not outdo God in any endeavor, no matter how endowed we are in mind and intellect.  

There could be some who misinterpret Paul’s statement and think we can keep sinning and God will forgive the more keeping one step ahead with grace increasing as well.  Don’t believe that it is a race to see if God accepts that scenario.  However, no sin is ever too large for God to handle.  A good analogy is all of our sin is represented as a drop of water standing at the edge of the ocean.  The water in the ocean represents God’s Mercy.  When we, the sin in the drop of water, jumps into the ocean his mercy immediately absorbs our sin, never to be seen again. 

This first week of Lent presents a perfect time to reflect on anything that might be gnawing at our conscience and give ourselves an opportunity to decide if restitution with God is a need to become reconciled and receive the grace of reconciliation.  If not today, we have time to seek God and remember the reason why these 40 days are not for sorrow, but for thanksgiving that Jesus cared enough to hang on that cross when he said “Father, forgive them!”

Ralph B. Hathaway, 1st week of Lent