Sin seen in relationship to the law is a transgression to be punished and an action that needs forgiveness. Sin seen as sickness points us to the need to be healed from a disease that needs a radical cure. Sin is a deep brokenness at the core of our being. It needs a physician, even the Great Physician. The answer to sin’s sickness is spiritual health and wholeness. There is a balm in Gilead; there is a physician there, “so that the health of His people can be restored” (Jeremiah 8:22).
Father, when we view persons in the grip of sin, help us not to think about how badly they need to be punished, but rather how much they need to be healed. Amen!
