Have you ever preached the gospel to someone who not only recognized their sin but was okay with being punished for it by God? Have you ever met someone who felt as though they needed to pay their dues in life, and therefore refused to repent and believe in Jesus? Have you ever felt as though you yourself needed to be punished after sinning against the Lord?
All of these instances are not uncommon. There is an inherent sense of justice in everyone, and those who cannot run from it and who refuse to escape it, often end up embracing it.
There’s something very wrong of course with this picture. There is a huge misconception here on the part of the sinner as to what Sin really is and how God looks at it. To put it simply, many see Sin as purely a moral offense against an abstract standard of “good.” But the problem with that definition is, Sin becoms divorced from man’s relationship with God. Listen closely, Sin is not primarily a moral issue, but a relational one.
When the prodigal son turns his back on the father and gives his life over to sinful pursuits, his father’s primary desire is not to see him pay his dues, but rather to have him home. Likewise, God does not desire that we pay our dues more than He desires to see us home. Don’t ever fool yourself into thinking that it is a good thing to want to be punished for your sin because inherent in that desire is the conscious choice to reject the open arms of your Father.
Can I take it a little further? Sin is about your relationship with Him and not your self-respect. Don’t ever let yourself take God out of the picture so that it’s just you against the Law. When you desire to pay your dues, you are only desiring to preserve your own dignity. Your dignity becomes more important than your sonship. Well, if that’s what you are doing, don’t ever say that you are trying to give God His glory. You broke His heart once, and now you are choosing to break it again.
If you want to make it right, don’t run away for good. Come home.
