When God Doesn’t Zap Away Our Sin

“God promises grace to battle sin & to overcome sin.

We believe that God gives grace to us.”

This is not something we deserve;

it isn’t that He owes us,

but He gives it anyway.

It is undeserved,

His overflow of love for us.

We long for His grace—

His grace to put sin to death,

His grace to bring righteousness to life,

His grace to be who & what God calls us to be.

God gives that grace,

but for some reason—

His good reasons—

it doesn’t come in the form we would prefer.

God instead gives it not in the form we want

but in the form we need.

We want God to zap away our sin,

We want Him to instantly & permanently remove it.

Those desires,

those addictions,

those idolatries—

we want them to be lifted away & to be gone instantly.

God could do this.

He has the strength & the power.

And occasionally he does do this,

He removes the sin & the temptation to sin in an instant,

and it never comes back with the same strength & the same force.

But more commonly God’s grace

is not manifested in the instant obliteration of a sin.

Instead, His grace is in a new desire to destroy that sin.

God does not zap away our sin,

but gives us a new hatred for it

He gives a new desire to do the hard work of battling it.

He does not sovereignly remove it in a moment,

but He extends grace so we can battle it for a lifetime.

He extends grace

so we can see continuous, incremental success,

We know our weakness

We know our crying out for His strength.

He gives what we need,

even if it isn’t quite what we want.

This, is grace.

This, is undeserved favor from a loving God.

This, somehow,

must be far better for us than the alternative.

He confirms us saying

‘My grace is sufficient for you,

for My power is made perfect in weakness.’

Therefore we will boast all the more gladly of our weaknesses,

so that the power of Christ may rest upon us.”

Adapted from Challis