Sunday 2 May 2010

SIN & CHRISTIANS

'...it is worth noting that Christians, as new creations in Christ, also live in an essentially different relationship to their own sinfulness. You sin now afflicts you. The "dross" no longer defines or delights you. Indwelling sin becomes a form of significant suffering. What you once instinctively loved now torments you. The essential change in your relationship with God radically changes your relationship to remaining sinfulness. In Christ, in order to sin, you must lapse into temporary insanity, into forgetfulness. It is your worst cancer, your most crippling disability, your most treacherous enemy, you deepest distress. It is the single most destructive force impacting your life. Like nothing else in all creation, this threatens your life and well-being.'
David Powlison, 'God's Grace and your Sufferings' in Piper & Taylor, Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, p.163.