February 23 HOW GOD DEALS WITH SIN
To wink at a fault causes trouble; a frank rebuke leads to peace. Prov. 10:10, N.E.B.
A teacher discovers that one of his students has been cheating on his exams. Should he ignore this and act as though nothing has happened? Or should he rebuke the student and suspend him from the classroom? From our text today it seems that the latter would be the more profitable choice. Or would it?
In Proverbs 10:12 we read, "But love turns a blind eye to every fault" (N.E.B.). Is this a contradiction? Is there a difference between turning a blind eye to every fault and winking at them? In the Good News Bible, verse 10 states: "Someone who holds back the truth causes trouble." To wink at a fault is to avoid dealing with the issues entirely--and to leave them unresolved. This holds back reality. And God is committed to teaching us to live in reality--to live responsibly and accountably in every situation.
Yet it says that love turns a blind eye to every fault! For clarification let us read another translation of verse 12: "But love forgives all offences" (T.E.V.). God does not ignore, but forgives, our offenses. The "blind eye" is His chosen attitude of temporarily commuting our death sentence, that we might live to learn a better way. Forgiveness does not hold back the truth; it is not whitewash. Forgiveness is God's intelligent and loving position toward us.
I believe God has chosen this third alternative. He deals with us, holding aside the sure consequences of our actions while He gives us the opportunity to understand the problem and make an informed choice as to how we would like to relate to Him in the future.
So often we think we have only two choices in dealing with those who have sinned. To show mercy we ignore the offense. To show that we take sin seriously, we either expel the sinner from our presence or take stern action against him. Either way, we lose any chance we might have in retaining a healing relationship with the person involved.
Let us cherish the third option! Let us gently and intelligently work through the realities of each problem while expressing every step of the way, that the individual involved is of more value than any of his presently unwise choices. That's how I would want to be treated.
wo intelligent persons to converse?
To wink at a fault causes trouble; a frank rebuke leads to peace. Prov. 10:10, N.E.B.
A teacher discovers that one of his students has been cheating on his exams. Should he ignore this and act as though nothing has happened? Or should he rebuke the student and suspend him from the classroom? From our text today it seems that the latter would be the more profitable choice. Or would it?
In Proverbs 10:12 we read, "But love turns a blind eye to every fault" (N.E.B.). Is this a contradiction? Is there a difference between turning a blind eye to every fault and winking at them? In the Good News Bible, verse 10 states: "Someone who holds back the truth causes trouble." To wink at a fault is to avoid dealing with the issues entirely--and to leave them unresolved. This holds back reality. And God is committed to teaching us to live in reality--to live responsibly and accountably in every situation.
Yet it says that love turns a blind eye to every fault! For clarification let us read another translation of verse 12: "But love forgives all offences" (T.E.V.). God does not ignore, but forgives, our offenses. The "blind eye" is His chosen attitude of temporarily commuting our death sentence, that we might live to learn a better way. Forgiveness does not hold back the truth; it is not whitewash. Forgiveness is God's intelligent and loving position toward us.
I believe God has chosen this third alternative. He deals with us, holding aside the sure consequences of our actions while He gives us the opportunity to understand the problem and make an informed choice as to how we would like to relate to Him in the future.
So often we think we have only two choices in dealing with those who have sinned. To show mercy we ignore the offense. To show that we take sin seriously, we either expel the sinner from our presence or take stern action against him. Either way, we lose any chance we might have in retaining a healing relationship with the person involved.
Let us cherish the third option! Let us gently and intelligently work through the realities of each problem while expressing every step of the way, that the individual involved is of more value than any of his presently unwise choices. That's how I would want to be treated.
wo intelligent persons to converse?
RSS Feed
