Spiritual Dashboard

I think that most people view sin like the speedometer on their car’s dashboard. They say, “well, I know what I’m doing is wrong but it’s not that bad.” Or, “yeah, it’s pretty bad but not as bad as that guy.” This type of thinking puts us in a couple of awkward positions. One, it has us comparing ourselves to others which is not only unhealthy but it’s also not how God says He sees us. God doesn’t grade on the curve. He tells us not to compare ourselves to one another but to God’s law (Which is not meant to be even attainable but to show us how many bad choices we make… But that’s another post).

Second, this speedometer view of sin is malformed. The spiritual sin-o-meter is not a gauge like a speedometer it’s an indicator light like your check engine light. For that matter, as long as you’re accepting of God’s free gift of forgiveness, it’s not even a measure of transgressions but, rather, an indicator that you’ve gone off track somewhere. It’s a sign that you need to reevaluate your decisions.

Forming and cultivating a relationship with God does not mean that our sin is jettisoned. Our sin is always present in us because as long as we have that human nature we will all have a bit of evil desire in us. Thankfully, as Jesuit Bernard Bush notes, “God does not condone or sanction evil, but he does not withhold his love because there is evil in us.”

Remember to check those indicators frequently. If you find the check engine light on you need to investigate why and make those corrections or, at the risk of extending the metaphor too far, you may just have a breakdown.

Explore posts in the same categories: Personal, Theology

Tags: compassion, Forgiveness, Love, Sin, Theology

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