Does our sin hurt God? Another question we should think about.

 Does it hurt God if we keep sinning ?  

  I have been looking at a series of questions that many ask . The last one was about, " why do all these things happen in the world that are not good"?  We answered that in the mackirk.blogspot.com link for Sept . 11 that talked about God working all things for our good and His glory despite what we see ( Romans 8:28 is the key verse for this). Loss is not in our plan, but God does have a plan.

When we sin we hurt ourselves.  We also hurt God , and that should be an incentive to live and better godly lives in the power of His strength.  I had never thought of it that way before.

We should first redefine what sin is.  Some see it as not hitting the mark as the arrow that misses the bullseye. Sin keeps us apart from God .  Psalm 66:18 , " If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." One of the best Confessions of Faith says"  sin is any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God." ( Westminster Catechism & also in the Childen's Catechism( https://reformed.org/historic-confessions/the-childrens-catechism/ ) Personally , I have found that the Children's Catechism is more helpful than the longer one , as it boils things down for us.

Secondly we could almost say that talking about God in this way makes no sense to us.  How can we hurt God by sinning?  He is not able to be hurt we think.  We certainly do not control God .  If we did, then we would not have a very powerful God.  The Scriptures portray God as infinite, eternal, and with Kingly power to do His pleasure.

But if we see sin as hurting our relationship with God,  that may say it more clearly.  We certainly hurt ourselves and others if we act without Him and His Will in our lives.

I have kept coming back to the story Jesus told in Luke 15 about the lost son , as I have thought about sin and our relationship with God.  We may see it as the forgiving Father .  The Father embraces the son with compassion when he returns back to his home.  He has "wasted his substance with riotous living" Luke 15:13

While the son was away the father must have been very hurt and sad that his son had left home.  He has already taken the part of the inheritance before he was due it. I don't think we really understand how much God does actually grieve the loss of people,  who ignore Him and don't love Him in all their ways. that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. In talking about prayer for all men, I Timothy 2 reminds us,"For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth."

Lastly I came across a good quote from Arthur Pink one of my favorite thinkers, " Fallen man can neither perceive his desperate need of salvation , nor come to Christ for it , till he has been renewed by the Holy Spirit." It seems a contradiction from the last verse about I Timothy 2 that he desires all come to the knowledge of the truth .  If God wills then my eyes can be opened.  

I remember that was the case in my life .  I had come to a place of despair many many years ago at college.  I had no saving faith .  It took going to hear a wonderful speaker at the Maritime Chapel many times before I begin to realize that I had never truly believed.  We can fool ourselves by our good behavior and moral living that we are part of God's kingdom, but unless we enter in by faith in His Son alone, we are not.

Don't try and reconcile the deep theological things that seem to be a contradiction .  That is the point. God is not to be grasped but in faith.  His ways are above ours. Isaiah 55 : 7-9 is the key verse for this, "  7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.

9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."

God is God.  We are not.  As we began we cannot understand why things happen in the world that seem cruel and unexplainable.  We can be encouraged that this life is the way to the life beyond through the One Door.  That is the Door of the Good Shepherd, the only Son of God, the 2nd person of the Holy Trinity, Jesus Christ .  Even our Christian lives can dip into sin and disrepair apart from following His path as best we can.  Holiness is not optional for the people of God. 

Sin does hurt our own lives and our light does not shine as it should .  It also hurts God.  Remember this before we take action we will regret later.  He does receive us as the story in Luke 15 reminds us, but we have neither earned it or deserved it.  His love is of His grace and not our merit.