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Guest Editorial Reflections on Preaching Sin as an Act of Love
I still recall the first time I sang the hymn, God, Be Merciful to Me. The opening words of the third verse declare, “I am evil, born in sin.” As soon as the words left my mouth, my soul balked, accusing the hymnist of hyperbole, even harshness. Sinful? Yes. Evil? Hardly. But the word lingered, knocking about the back of my mind, humbling me, as my conscience questioned my reaction. “Why not call you evil? What part of you shines as holy as God? Does your heart not also display the corruption of Adam, your father?” Soon, self-defense turned to self examination, accusation to prayer, and defiance to repentance. I too think evil, speak evil, do evil. If “out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, [and] slander” (Matthew 15:19), then my heart—the core of my being—is, in fact, evil. The stark, ugly truth, though hard to hear, forged in me deeper awareness of my own sin, and thus deeper appreciation for the Christ who overcomes it. Would you ever stand in the pulpit and say to your sheep, “You are evil, born in sin?” My experience with God, Be Merciful to Me has, over time, affected not only my awareness of the depths of my own sin, but also the manner in which I preach about sin. I have grown more direct, more probing, more willing to say hard things. The world, and some Christians with it, label preaching about sin “unloving.” But I have come to see that preaching the stark reality of sin, so far from comprising a loveless act, represents instead a profound act of love.
