Can God use sin sinlessly? Or, can God allow sinful things to happen in his world and it be for our good? The answer is obvious. God does use sin sinlessly. One look at the Gospel (the Cross of Christ) and we see the most heinous sin ever acted out in his world and it was God’s ultimate kindness to us. We have unusually benefited from the Gospel.

It was a horrible day! And through the actions of sinful men we will eternally benefit. And Christ was acutely aware that what was happening to him was designed by God and for our good.

I think most of us intuitively know two simple, yet complicated truths, when we are sinned against:

1. God is the Designer behind the design
2. And what is happening to me is for my good

Though we can “sign-off” on this truth, it is still one of the more difficult challenges to apply to our personal lives. I get it, but when it is happening to me, I struggle with personal application. Here are two things I know when I’m being sinned against:

1. This sin event did not take God by surprise. Even more than this passive reality, I am very much aware that God is actively involved in my life. He is ahead of me, planning my life and preparing me for the events in which he has prepared.
2. One of the ways God is using this sin event in my life is to draw attention to what is going on in my heart. God is using sin sinlessly and for his glory and my good. Here is what I mean:

I remember counseling a gentleman a few years ago. He was very angry and frustrated about a sinful relative, who was acting like a jerk. The evidence was objective and my friend was accurate in communicating the data. However, I noticed that while he was communicating what was going on he was sinning with anger, criticism, anxiousness, bitterness, slander and fear.

There was a constellation of sin swirling around my friend. And this entire constellation of sin was spewing forth from his heart. I told him that his relative is…

AN INSTRUMENT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS IN THE HANDS OF GOD, BEING USED BY GOD TO REVEAL SIN IN YOUR HEART.

Being sinned against is one of the more difficult situations for an individual to respond with faith, hope, humility and gratitude toward God. Typically in the moment of sin our temptation is to curse the sinner. When the heat of life is bearing down on us it is very difficult not to yield to the temptation to curse the sun.

Rather than giving thanks to God in the moment, we sin. My friend was sinning. He was right in his evaluation of what his relative was doing to him, but he was wrong to sin in response to his relative’s sin. It is never right to respond sinfully to sin.

I have noticed over the years that God allows sinful situations into my life to let me know the state of my heart. When things are going well I do not typically find myself sinning. I can sin in almost any situation, but when things are calm it is not all that normal for me to sin. However, when heat comes into my life or when someone does not meet my expectations or when someone blindsides me with their sin, it is in those moments that sin can spew forth from my heart.

When I’m being squeezed, especially by those who I love the most, I can easily yield to the manueverings of sin. And there is only one reason I can sin against someone when I am sinned against: it is because there is sin in my heart!

Because of God’s kindness to me he allows sinful things to happen to me to reveal to me what is really going on in my heart. Sin reveals to me who I truly am in the moment. If you put a stick in the cauldron of my heart it will stir up sin. When Christ was poked he did not poke back. When I am poked I do poke back. When Christ was poked he kept on entrusting himself to the One who judges justly, according to 1 Peter 2.

Why did he not sin when he was sinned against? Because there was no sin in his heart. Why do I sin when I am sinned against? Because there is sin in my heart.

And I praise God that over the years God has taught me about grace, matured me in grace and has generously applied grace to me in the sin moment from others. However, I have not arrived and I still can sin. And I do!

If you can apply this truth to your life you will be in a wonderful place of being more controlled by God than the sin of others. Christ was tethered to his Father and therefore it was not overwhelming to him when men sinned against him. Did it hurt? Yes! Was it sinful? Absolutely! It was more pain than I could ever imagine. But he was focused on his Father and, therefore, he was not thrown by how others acted out on him.

We will always be thrown by the sin of others because we are not Christ, but if we are in Christ then we don’t have to stay down. Here is a question for you:

When you are sinned against where is your primary focus? In Christ? Or in the one who sinned against you? The answer to this question can be measured by your current and on-going reaction to the person who sins against you. Listening to the attitude of the one sinned against will tell you a lot about the state of their heart.

Please read 1 Peter 2:20-25 for more perspective.

Francis Quimet had no idea how this one was going to end. I do. I watched this movie awhile back. But I’m not going to say how it ends. You can watch the storyline unfold and get caught up in all the drama yourself. If Lucia and I were watching this movie with you we most certainly would be watching it from different perspectives.

You would be curious, hopeful and maybe even at times anxious as to the ending of the greatest game ever played. We would be assured, calm and certain of the ending and though we could get caught up in the rapidly changing events of the movie we would be anchored by the truth that the Writer has brought this one to a satisfying conclusion.

Rom 8:30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Don’t be fooled. For the Christian it ends well. Those whom he has predestined he has also called. And for those whom he has called he has also justified. And for those whom he has justified he has also glorified. In God’s mind all the “words” of Romans 8:30 are in the past tense. The Writer has written the script. That which he has begun he has completed and the “movie” has been sealed to the day of our redemption. (See Phil 1:6; Eph 4:30)

From God’s perspective the movie is over. Just because we are still living it out, meandering through the morass, does not mean that Someone is not aware of how it ends. And thanks be to God that he knows. We are glorified in the mind of God. It’s done. The gig is up. The show is over. The fat lady has sung her song. We are seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus (Col 3:1). In the mind of God future glory is our present hope, our present tense assurance.

Now here’s a question for you: Are you more aware of the difficulty of the journey, the challenges of the journey, the sin in the journey or our Great God who has already brought things to a satisfying conclusion because of the Cross?

Let me ask it another way: Are you really living in the good of the gospel?

Go for it! Live well, live full. Take a chance from the sandy bunker. Swing hard. Live in hope. Don’t worry about the rough or the next time you slice it into the woods. I would tell you all about it, but I want you to walk the fairways, soak it in, watch the movie, all the while trusting in your great God who wrote the script.

Okay, here’s a hint about The Greatest Game Ever Played: It ends very well! You’ll be satisfied with the outcome.

Also read another kind of post for the avid golfer, The Golfer’s Fantasy

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