Learning to Recover From Sin
In which Brent reflects on the skills needed to return to God in the wake of iniquity
The Pun:
The Prayer
When I overdo it, my body is slow to recover. The medical term is PEM (Post Exertional Malaise). Individuals like myself with long COVID, POTS, CFS/ME, and certain autoimmune diseases experience PEM and may take days, weeks, or even months to recover when they overexert themselves.
Although I cannot eliminate the problem, I am working on two skills to cope with it. The first is to learn my energy envelope and stay within it. The second is to learn how to live well in the recovery period. The temptation during recovery is to push harder and continue to do things on my own. When that eventually fails, the new temptation is to then stop trying to move forward in life altogether and give up.
The better path, conversely, is to
Live within my new limits,
Reach out to others for help with what I cannot do and
Continuing to accomplish what I can still do even if it is very little.
While reading through 1 Samuel, I observed three similar approaches to sin encouraged by the prophet. Israel sinned by rejecting God as Lord and asked Samuel to appoint a king for them. Samuel warned the people of the difficulties this would bring. When they realized their wrong and repented, Samuel did three things:
1. He encouraged them to keep following God
“And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart.” (1 Samuel 12:20)
The realization of our sin can direct our hearts away from the place of trust. We become afraid and overcome by guilt. God may seem to be a source of fear and condemnation now rather than comfort and peace. However, the solution for recovering from sin is never to run away from God but, rather, toward Him. If we cannot regain the balance brought by faith in Him, we will continue in a cycle of sin.
In Christ, there is no condemnation and there is no guilt. We must learn to quickly return to living under the graces we have always needed. In the wake of sin, we must admit that we are particularly vulnerable and in need of His mercies moment by moment. Just as much as it is a mistake to return to sin, it is a mistake to trust in our strength and cleverness to overcome the next temptation. Undeserving, we must humbly rest in His grace as we are restored.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Puns, Prayers and Proverbs to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.