I Sin Every Day In Thought Word and Deed ... or do I?

There is a point to me sharing this theological point on the blog -- and that point will lead to humor. So athiests, agnostics, and those of a different face base than I am -- you may choose to wade through the theology to get to the humor or you may simply click on to another blog. Beauty is, I'll never know.

Which reminds me.... I'm REALLY glad there is internet. Cuz you know I just can't show enough pictures of Gabby. But I don't have to... as they did in the old days ... trap someone in a corner and pull out the brag book and force an uninterested friend at church or neighbor on the street - to wade through 100 pictures of a grandchild. I can simply post them on Facebook and the blog and if you want to ignore the most beautiful (yet somber) baby in the world, that's your choice.

Anyway, I was raised a strong Wesleyan-Arminian and was often told that those "Calvinists" who believe that we sin every day in thought, word and deed should be pitied. The poor folks didn't understand Romans 6 that told us that we could be come slaves to righteousness, that God had already fought the battle for us, and that we didn't have to have a daily battle with sin. We could move on, knowing that in Christ we were free from the law of sin and death and could move on to service, taking God's yoke upon us and heading out to change the world.

Lately through reading and some discussions it has been suggested that possibly my theological upbringings lead to self-righteousness and the inability to accept or offer grace. This has been a challenging thought and I am trying to integrate grace into my framework. It is taking a while, as I mentioned yesterday.

In trying to understand the "sin every day in thought, word, and deed" idea, I asked Bart this morning what the point was. If I know I'm going to sin today no matter what, why not just get busy doing it. If it is impossible for me to help myself, I should just go sin. I told him that a lot of days I really don't feel like I sin. Told him I'd been awake for 30 minutes and hadn't sinned yet.

And then reality came pouring into my mind. We have to take Tony school clothes shopping today! I WILL sin in thought, word, and deed today. In fact, taking Tony school shopping will most likely result in me loosing my salvation, my sanctification, and my mind. He is the most argumentative, demanding, disagreeable, button-pushing, manipulative 15 year old on the planet, and remember, I raised Kyle. He's like Kyle on steroids kicked up a notch.

But fortunately for Tony, I survived Kyle and my tolerance level is much higher.

However, even when calling upon Jesus, I have a feeling that at least once today, my thoughts will be murderous, my words harsh, and my deeds ... well let's just hope Christ can control the deeds that my thoughts will be spurring me on to commit. ;-)

I certainly am not writing any of this to do anything but bring out a funny conclusion that came to me this morning -- no offense intended to Calvinists, Arminians, ... nope, not even to LUTHERANS. (Just kidding, Kari).

And maybe, just maybe, the power of God is strong enough to prevent me from sinning today as we take Tony shopping. But that idea is going to take a WHOLE lotta faith.