Grace. Full stop.

Ed Cyzewski posted a powerful blog post the other day, titled, “The Supreme Court Just Gave American Evangelicals a Gift.” One of the comments to it said, “We are all sinners saved by grace, but…” And then the commenter went on to say lots of unkind things, condemning a wide range of people. There’s no but to that statement. We are all sinners saved by grace. Full stop. Followers of Jesus are not authorized to condemn others for their sins. But we are authorized to forgive sins. 

“If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” — Jesus (‭John‬ ‭20‬:‭23‬ NIV)

So if someone or a whole group of people are doing things that you’re sure are sinful, the best thing to do is make good friends with them and diligently forgive them. The worst thing you can do is cast generalized judgment on them across social media. There’s just no way that is in keeping with what Jesus told us to do.

God doesn’t forgive you because you repent

“Never be deluded into thinking that if you have contrition, if you are sorry for your sins, God will come and forgive you – that he will be touched by your appeal, change his mind about you and forgive you. Not a bit of it. God never changes his mind about you. He is simply in love with you. What he does again and again is change your mind about him [and I would add, about yourself]. That is why you are sorry. That is what your forgiveness is. You are not forgiven because you confess your sin. You confess your sin, recognize yourself for what you are, because you are forgiven.” – Herbert McCabe Faith Within Reason, p. 158