Perfectly Imperfect

But where sin increased, grace increased all the more. (Romans 5:20)

We rue the day sin entered the world, and rightfully so. Every problem we face, from a stubbed toe to war in the Middle East, is the result of sin. I’m not sure there is any prize or outcome that could ever justify or reconcile the high cost of our sin. And yet, because of our sin and failures, we now understand grace. That’s the conundrum we’re left in: we can’t know grace apart from sin. We can’t know mercy apart from iniquity.

Paul tells the Romans that our sin triggers God’s grace. God was a loaded cannon of grace, and our sin lit the fuse. We can speculate about what would make for a better world: perfection without grace or sin with grace. And Paul goes on to warn us that grace is not an encouragement to sin. However, this is the real world that we live in. One where sin has broken all of creation, and especially you and me. While I will never rejoice in sin per se or celebrate it, it is precisely in our sin that we know the glorious depths of God’s grace. Let us always rejoice in and celebrate that!