Bandaids & Bulletholes: Introduction

For this next series of blogs, I'm going to post lessons to a curriculum I wrote last year about dealing with sin (namely, the process of turning from it) called 'Bandaids and Bulletholes.' 

While it was specifically written for a class assignment, it wasn't long before it was writing me. Jesus—in the way that only he can—had me write these things down and then journeyed me through them. But that story is for a another day and another series of blogs (and now that I've said that, I am definitely accountable to write them). 

This series is intended to be pertinent to an individual and equally effective when done with someone else or with a group of people. However you slice it, I hope it cuts deeply.

The following is the introduction. Seemed like a good place to begin...

Picture this. 

The world is at war for... well... the umpteenth time in history. You’re part of the allied forces (A.K.A. “Good Guys”) and currently in the middle of a decisive battle that could be the tipping point for this war, determining whether good or evil will prevail. You’re making the charge against enemy lines and the unthinkable happens. Your best friend—who just happens to be running alongside you—gets shot. You stop what you’re doing to triage the situation. Needless to say, it’s pretty bad. You start getting out some supplies to make a tourniquet that will bind the wound (at least until a professional can see to it) and your friend tells you to stop... and pretty forcefully, at that. You ask why and get this response: “Don’t worry, don’t worry, put that stuff away. I just need a bandaid.”

...Come again?

“Yeah, it’s not too bad. A bandaid should be fine.”

...Hmmm.

You may not be a doctor (or maybe you are), but it doesn’t take much knowledge and experience to know that a bandaid isn’t going to cut it when it comes to a bullet wound.

The same is true of sin. 

What is sin? It is disobeying God by commission (consciously doing things we know he has told us not to do) and omission (consciously not doing the things we know we need to do). It is rebellion; war against our Creator-God. Since our first parents, Adam and Eve, we’ve all been there, done that and gotten the T-shirt, certainly. But do you know that your sin is fatal? Do you believe that it has the power to significantly destroy you and the people around you? You wouldn’t deal with a bullet carelessly just as you shouldn’t deal with your sin passively. A bullet hole needs to be properly diagnosed, thoroughly cleaned, covered with disinfectant, tightly bound, checked periodically until it’s healed and the area surrounding the wound also needs to be rehabilitated. Likewise, the fatal blows of sin need to be acknowledged for exactly what they are, exposed completely, covered in the forgiveness of Jesus, turned from repeatedly, and—whenever possible—have the effects restored.

Christian, are you trying to cover up your bulletholes with bandaids? The good news is that your rescue has come, and his name is Jesus.

The hope and aim of this study is that you will say, together with the apostle Paul, “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! . . . There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 7:24-25a, 8:1)