The Grace of God Abounds
You slipped up again. That very thing you promised God you would never do again—you've done it. You feel gross, dirty, and broken. You half-heartedly ask God to forgive you because you know it's the right thing to do, but it feels inauthentic. You imagine God huffing out a big sigh and rolling His eyes. Here we go again, you imagine Him thinking. Will you ever learn?
Sin is pervasive. We are not good people who sometimes do bad things; we are sinful people. It is our very nature, and its reach is far. Generational sin and the brokenness of one person result in the brokenness of another. The destructiveness of sin. The decades of hurt one person's sin can cause. We can recognize this reality not only in our own lives but also throughout history, where, even today, we are impacted by evil that occurred many years ago.
Let's focus on our own hearts. We knowingly turn away from the Lord and turn to other gods of our own making every day. We know He is where true satisfaction is found, yet we routinely try to find it in relationships, sex, food, money, success, and so on. Even in the things we do in His name, there is still the stain of sin upon them. You pray with the desire that others will think highly of you. You serve, wanting to be seen. You worship, and a small part of you wonders if others notice the way you are lifting your hands. We are a selfish and adulterous people. Our sin reaches far into our own lives and into the lives of those around us.
The book of Leviticus highlights this reality. In Leviticus, God gives His people the Law to show them what makes them unclean and tells them how to deal with their uncleanness so they may be made clean and their holy God may dwell among them. The pervasive nature of sin and uncleanness is a theme throughout the book of Leviticus, but we'll focus on chapter 15. (Bear with me—I recognize this is not a pleasant passage.)
"The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 'Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When any man has a discharge from his body, his discharge is unclean… Every bed on which the one with the discharge lies shall be unclean. And anyone who touches his bed shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. And whoever sits on anything on which the one with the discharge has sat shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. And if the one with the discharge spits on someone who is clean, then he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. And any saddle on which the one with the discharge rides shall be unclean. And whoever touches anything that was under him shall be unclean until the evening. And whoever carries such things shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. Anyone whom the one with the discharge touches without having rinsed his hands in water shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening.'"
(Leviticus 15:1–11)
The man with the discharge is unclean, but it doesn't stop there. The bed he lies on is unclean. Anyone who touches his bed is unclean. Anyone who sits on anything he has sat on is unclean. Anyone who is spit on by this man is unclean. Whoever carries anything this man has touched is unclean. You get the point. Uncleanness—and sin—is pervasive. Its reach is far, something the Law clearly expresses.
Take yourself back to 1446 B.C. Imagine that you are one of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness, listening to Moses explain the Law of the Lord. There would probably be a couple of things going through your mind as you took all of this in, but I'm sure one of them would be to avoid, at all costs, anything that would make you unclean. If you heard of someone being in a state of uncleanness, you'd be sure to avoid them because the last thing you'd want was to become unclean yourself.
Now fast-forward to around A.D. 30. There is a woman who has suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years. She has tried just about everything to fix her condition. She has been excluded and rejected because she is considered unclean. She's heard murmurings about this man named Jesus—a man who speaks with authority and has the power to heal and cast out demons. She wonders, What if He's the answer?
She joins a crowd following Jesus. She tells herself, "If I only touch His garment, I will be made well." She touches His garment, and Jesus, feeling the power go out from Him, turns to her and says, "Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well." Instantly, the woman is made well.
When Jesus is touched by uncleanness, the pattern of pervasive uncleanness is stopped. How? Rather than becoming unclean, He remains clean and makes the unclean clean. Not only is the woman made clean, but Jesus remains clean Himself.
Romans 5:20 says, "Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more."
As pervasive and far-reaching as sin is, grace reaches even farther. Grace is even more pervasive. This is displayed so clearly through the woman with the discharge. Her uncleanness was rampant; it touched every aspect of her life. Her life was defined by her uncleanness. Yet the grace of God, displayed through the person of Christ, reached her. The moment she touched His garment, she was no longer defined by her uncleanness but was instead called a daughter.
Grace abounded all the more.
What an amazing reality this is for the believer. Where your sin reaches far, the grace of God reaches even farther.
"Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool."
(Isaiah 1:18)
When the blood of Jesus flowed from the cross, the unclean became clean. Though our sins were like scarlet, they have become as white as snow. We are given His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21) and are counted clean in God's sight.
The longer we walk with Jesus, the more we recognize the depth of our sin. As we know Him more, we also come to know ourselves more—specifically, the ways we are not like Him. This can make it difficult to remember that the grace of God truly abounds all the more. We begin to view our relationship with the Lord as transactional. If only I sinned less. If only I did better. Then He'll use me. Then I'll experience His abounding grace.
As we see the depth of our sin grow deeper, the weight of the cross should become heavier. Rather than hiding in shame, we should abound in praise. The more we recognize how deep and wide our sin goes, and yet see that because of Jesus the grace of God reaches even deeper and wider, the only fitting response is worship and awe.
When you feel exhausted and burdened by the far-reaching effects of your sin, turn to Jesus and recognize your need for His sacrificial death and the forgiveness that comes through Him. Remember that the grace of God abounds all the more. Jesus changes everything. Where our sin is pervasive, His grace abounds all the more.