Let's get a little personal here. Do I still sin? Yes. Does my behavior sometimes border something so destructive that I could ruin my life and the lives of others if I gave myself permission to do so? Yes. This is all true. You and I are always capable of ruining our lives at any moment,* and I speak from experience.
The most important relationship in my life, however, begins with the One who tells me He is not ashamed of me. He says, "Spend time with me. I know all the stuff. It doesn't frighten me. I also know what's been done to you and what you've done to yourself. I know that you feel embarrassed and exposed. You feel embarrassed because you think you should have been able to stop others from hurting you and those around you. You also feel like you should have been able to stop yourself from hurting your own self and and those around you. For years you even ignored Me, analyzed Me, sometimes told Me off, and even tried to philosophically draw a picture of Me which was a little foolish albeit understandable. But, here's something I want to tell you. I'm not embarrassed of you. I'm not ashamed of you. I don't feel insecure when I tell the angels that I associate Myself with you and that you are my favorite person to spend time with. In fact, I sing your praises (Heb 2:10-13)**. There is nothing that can separate you from my love because I have already decided that I love you."
So there we go. That is the kind of relationship that can solve our problems. Funny thing is, once we get into this kind of a relationship, we begin to realize that solving our problems was never really the core or foundation of what God was going for, even though our safe and loving relationship with Him begins to result in many of our problems being resolved. At the core, He wants to spend time with us in the midst of our trust that He loves us, fought for us, died for us, heals us, and says, "I like this person. I'm taking him or her for eternity." It was never based on our behavior.*** The moment I realize that He loves me in this way is the moment that eternal life really starts to kick in. I mean, it really starts to get good at this point. The relationship itself takes on a new life. Until that moment, life is hell. Like I say, I speak from experience.
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*Yet, even the total destruction of our lives is always redeemable. That is how good it is.
**Check out Hebrews 2:10-13. The picture that the author is painting is as if God (in the person of Jesus) is in the middle of a crowd with a whole bunch of us. It's like he stands me up a little higher than all the others in the crowd and says, "Guys, this is who I was talking about!" He starts telling stories about us. It's glorious. He's showing us off. No wait. He's showing Himself off too. It always points back to Him. He's the one who created us. Actually, I'm not exactly sure how this works, but holy smokes. This is good stuff. A little fun and mysterious, eh? Just don't neglect the fact that He says He shouts our praises. Maybe just need to leave it there. He says we are holy. The Holy One hangs out with the ones He's made holy.
***Even our trust itself is never performance-based. It is always grace-based since our trust level goes up and down so often.
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