On Lent and Sin

’Yet even now,’ declares the Lord, ‘return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.’ (Joel 2:12)

In the Church, we are nearing the end of the season of Lent. Lent is a time of repentance; of turning from our sinful ways and back to the Lord.

Sin is a tough concept. One might even call it a “dirty” word, in the sense that refers to a sense of being “unclean,” and that its use can be offensive to those who are accused of it. In this world, to be told you are “wrong” in any way, shape or form is offensive. We don’t even like to consider that we are wrong, much less be told that by someone else. After all, who are you to judge me?

The reality, though, is that none of us is fully who we want to be, who we should be, or who we believe we could be. Even if you think that Christians are a bunch of hypocrites who think they’re better than everyone else, I’m pretty sure we can all agree that none of us are perfect. In fact, I think we can all agree, even if only to ourselves, that we are far from perfect.

That’s not me trying to make you feel bad or looking down my nose at you. I’m far from perfect. In fact, I’m one of the most messed up people I know. I’m not saying that for effect. I’ve been struggling with the same things my entire life. I’m smart enough to know better, but like the Apostle Paul, I keep on doing the things that make me feel worse about myself after I do them.

And look, maybe we’re doing a disservice to ourselves by expecting to be perfect. Maybe we need to cut ourselves a little slack and be okay with not being okay. I think there’s definite truth in that. Unfortunately, that outlook doesn’t work.

When I see someone screaming and swearing on TikTok because someone else “misgendered” them or “mansplained” something to them, I always wonder: if they’re so secure in themselves and their identity, then why are they getting so bent out of shape about what someone they think is an idiot thinks about them? Oh, don’t get me wrong – I’m not criticizing “them” as though I’m any better. My point is that we all want to believe that we’re okay with not being okay, but we’re all lying to ourselves and others.

Why do the words and opinions of someone, even someone I don’t know, matter so much to me? To all of us? Because there is so much about me that bothers me, and I do not like someone else making me look in the mirror to ask if what they’re saying might possibly have some truth to it!

I frankly think that’s why our social media culture is so bipolar. What I mean is, one minute you’re being told that you’re perfect just the way you are, Queen! And the next, you’re the absolute worst, Karen! People can’t make up their minds when it comes to others, because we’re all struggling with this love-hate relationship we have with ourselves. When it comes down to it, we all desperately want to feel better about ourselves, nobody knows how to do it, and in our frustration, we all turn to being critical of others to try and feel a little better about ourselves. Unfortunately again, that doesn’t work, either…

That’s the reality of sin. It’s not a dirty word to throw at someone else to make them feel eeeevil (using cartoon villain voice), it’s a word that summarizes everything inside us that leads to us making bad choices and selfish decisions, taking careless courses of action, and saying thoughtless things – even when we want to be better than that! Some of it is nurture, some of it is nature, but most of it is just on us.

We are all sinful. Being a believer in Jesus does not make you a better person than anyone else. It does, though, mean that you acknowledge your sin. It also means you acknowledge your inability to fix things on your own. Frankly, even help from others can only go so far, because others are sinful and broken in themselves. Let’s face it: people have been trying to fix things on their own for as long as we’ve been around, and not only have we not succeeded along the way, but we have also found and continue to find new and innovative ways to mess things up even more!

The first step is admitting you’re not perfect. The second is admitting you are powerless to change that.

Next week: Is there any hope?

Ever, RevErik