Love the Sinner, Hate Your Own Sin.

 

Over the past few weeks I have been reflecting on my journey to the messy middle life that I am so loudly calling us all to lean into. I want to be sure to communicate clearly that my path into this space has been filled with turmoil and resistance from both inside myself as well as outside from my theological tribe. The positions I hold so dearly now are hard fought positions bathed in prayer, bible study, and honest repentance for the harm many of my earlier positions caused.


One of my favorite Bible verses is found in Proverbs 3:5-6 which states: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Throughout my journey with Jesus these words have served as my guide as I have constantly sought to allow my God to deconstruct my faith wherever it is missing the mark of love and justice that He calls His followers to live out for the benefit of all they encounter. My journey to the messy middle is an example of one of these heartfelt cries.


I was once a man who held to a theology focused on a false belief that I was empowered by God to ensure that every person I encountered felt shame for their sin, which of course was always worse than mine. My flawed theology caused me to forget that the gospel is the good news of the grace available to all. This false gospel ensured that I was able to celebrate grace in abundance while gatekeeping it from “those horrible sinners” who hadn’t earned it.


I clung to the axiom of “Hate the sin, but love the sinner” because someone once convinced me it was a quote directly from the Bible. Spoiler alert: it isn’t. It is a quote from Saint Augustine that has been so horribly mischarachterized & misquoted by Christians that it has become a battering ram used to oppress our fellow sinners who we see as worse than us. If we want to use this quote properly, let's do some research which will allow us to understand that this quote is related to monastic life with an actual intent of providing grace to those who faced discipline or expulsion.


As Dr. David Bennett recently stated in an instagram post, “Love the sinner, hate your own sin.” I choose to focus on detesting my own sin while embracing God’s grace in a way that lead to loving my fellow sinners more deeply. Friends, that is what a straight path looks like in God’s economy. Messy middle theology leads us to deeper love of others because we posture ourselves as the worst of sinners in need of grace who then serve as beacons pointing ALL we encounter to the same magnificent grace.


In a future blog (and perhaps video) I will be preparing an open letter to Rob of 20 years ago to hopefully better communicate the joy of simply allowing God to change my mind about deeply held beliefs so that I can walk in the freedom of His straight path.


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