Out-sinning God’s Grace?

I was listening the the radio the other day. And Steve Arterburn from New Life was saying how people worry that they have sinned too much for God to possibly forgive them, and that they have "out-sinned God's grace."

That really hit me. I certainly have faced times when I felt that way. I feel like I don't deserve God's grace. Although that sounds humble, it is in fact a prideful attitude because it assumes that we should be able to be good enough in ourselves to deserve God's grace. Further it assumes that when we feel or receive God's grace it is because of how good we are, or our inherent goodness and righteousness. It is basically saying that we think that we have the ability to earn it and that we are trusting in ourselves and not God - that it is about our righteousness and not God's goodness.

Lastly, it demeans the sacrifice of Christ. Why does it demean Christ's sacrifice? Because we are saying that Christ's sacrifice was not good enough and not powerful enough to cover our sins. As if Christ just isn't enough to handle it, and that we need to supplement it with our works. It also demeans the goodness and mercy of God.

We sometimes loose focus on our purpose in life. We are to be about the kingdom of God, and it is a battle for the hearts, minds and souls of those in this world.

Steve went on to share a story in this broadcast. Imagine a sports team. Imagine they are in the locker room about to go out to compete. Can you hear the coach say the following? "Ok, now I want all of you to remember every mistake you make. And if you make a big mistake, I just want to to think about it the entire game and never let it go. I want you to remember what a looser you are and how you've hurt the team and relive every moment of that mistake. Furthermore, we won't want to have anything to do with you if you do mess up."

Of course not! No team would say this. They want to win and in order to win each player needs to be effective. You can't be effective if you just mediate on your previous mistake. What really happens when players make mistakes? Their other team mates come to them and pat them on the helmet and say that it's ok. What do they do when someone is injured or inexperienced? They work harder to make up for the slack to hold up that weaker player.

If we are to be effective in God's work, we cannot meditate on our mistakes of the past. When we feel convicted of unresolved sin, that is the work of the Holy Spirit, but when we feel convicted over sins that we have turned from and given over to God then that is the enemy. We are going to make mistakes as we are being transformed from glory to glory. But if we are about God's work and about God's purpose in our life, he will be faithful to complete His work in us. But we do need to be about God's purposes and not our own goals, feelings, emotions, desires and superficial commercial wants. We also shouldn't minimize sin. But I will leave that for another post.
1 John 1:9
Romans 8:1


Psalm 103:12 - As far as the east is from the west,So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

In His Love.