The Numbers of Grace

Many have heard about my Sin-o-Meter an interactive worksheet, where you place the amount of sins per minute, add your age and it calculates the amount of sins you have accumulated in your life. It of course is not an exact science, giving the frequency of repentance which is somewhat less then the sins that you have incurred. For instance if you sin at the rate of 2 per minute and are 37 years old, then your accumulative sin total is approximately 35804160. Yep that’s 35million, 804 thousand 160 sins…..quite a hefty toll. It should lead us all to a greater number of times of repentance.

Whether you are under the sin of unforgiveness, resentment, or greed all of them count. If it is addictions, or oppression, remember if you keep all of God’s commands and break just one, you have broken them all. There are no disclaimers here, no negotiating the severity or intensity of sin. It is simple to say that we are born into sin and will live our entire life in sin, for it is only after death that we can be free from sin.

If we are hung up on the number of sins we listed above, we need to reconsider our options. Dwelling on sin and beating ourselves up over them is a trap and tool of sin itself. We are so determined to levy our own repentance, as if the act of self punishment will substantiate our sorrow.

If we were to categorize our sins, we would likely find it was the same handful of issues that brought us back to sin. The bible says that as a dog returns to his vomit, so too, shall a man return to his folly. What demonstration of sorrow are we showing in that context, to continue to be unforgiving, to continue to gossip or to be greedy, or covet or envy others? Is there really remorse present when we ask forgiveness and yet return to the same transgressions?

Consider that at a mere 2 sins per minute calculates to just under a million sins per year, what good works can we do to clear our sin slate? How many hours of service removes one sin let along a million per year? We would, and many of us do work ourselves to death trying to outwork our sin accumulation, we simply do not have the resources to overcome those numbers…

Grace is something that we get which we don’t deserve. A divine gift offered to those who ask for forgiveness in Jesus’ name. Grace is sufficient to remove that tremendous burden of sin that we carry. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 gives us that comfort and confidence that His grace will sustain us ahead of the sin accumulation curve. His blood spilled on the Cross for us seals that forever. By His stripes we are healed.

If this alone does not amaze you let me add one more mind boggling fact. I am deficient to consider that God only offers His grace to Christians, but for the purpose of this argument I will be that. Consider that 33% of the world’s religion is Christian, approximately 2.1 billion people, each sinning at the rate of one million per year. I am not sure what the result of that calculation is but it should inspire enough awe for belief.

By the way, that number is 2.1x10 to the fifteenth power OR 2,100,000,000,000,000.