God Is Not a God of Second Chances

Responding to the Reality of Sin

The front lawn of our little home in North Carolina features one solitary tree. This centerpiece of our landscape is not overly impressive. In fact, to call any part of our yard landscaped would be doing it a great favor. Nevertheless, this little tree is special to me. It was newly planted when we first bought our home. At that time, the tallest of its thin branches stretched no higher than I did at 5'9". Several years have passed since then, and I often like to steal a glance to see how tall this tree has grown. While I've remained the same height, our tree has now more than doubled in size. Its growth reminds me of the years our family has spent in our house, the children who have grown within its walls, and the memories we've shared.

A couple of months ago, I noticed a crack forming along the tree's trunk. I didn't pay it much attention at first, but slowly this crack has grown into a large gash. One of my friends is an arborist, so I asked him to take a look at the tree to see if there was anything I could do to help it along. To my surprise, his diagnosis was quite grim. Record rainfall in our area had caused the interior of the tree to grow faster than what the bark could handle. This caused the initial split. After that, wood boring larvae moved in and slowly started eating the tree away from the inside out. My friend had one conclusion: although it would take several years, my little tree would eventually succumb to its internal damage and die.

Although it's not pretty, the fate of my tree is similar to that of our souls. We all have a disease that is eating away at us from the inside out. This disease is called sin. It consists of both the evil nature we inherited from Adam, and the sins that we personally commit. Sin makes us spiritually dead. Much like the tree, the rest of our body inevitably catches up to the condition of our spirit and succumbs to death also. Every life insurance policy and gravestone marker testifies to this sad reality.

As obvious as our state is, we are quite good at hiding our sin when the cracks in our lives reveal our true nature. We do this in two ways. First, we excuse and minimize sin. This is simple enough to see through. Pretending that sin isn't real while our cracks are showing is only lying to ourselves. It would be like asking my friend to diagnose a photoshopped picture of my tree.

It's the second way we deal with sin that is much harder to put a finger on. It consists of trying to cover up our depravity with good works, thinking that having enough perceived goodness will fix our condition. This would be the equivalent of trying to hot-glue leaves onto the branches of my dying tree in order to convince myself of just how healthy it is. Jesus had this futile approach in mind when He said, “For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." (Matthew 23:27b-28)

The only way to fix my front lawn is to replace it with a living tree. Likewise, the only hope for my soul is to be given a new heart. This is why Jesus is so insistent that one must be born again to see the Kingdom of God (John 3:3). No amount of good works can produce this new birth. Only faith and repentance in Jesus' gospel can. Do you trust in the finished work of Christ today or does your hope teeter on how good you feel about yourself? Are you letting the Gardner sow you a new heart, or are you trying to tape bark onto a dying tree? One of these is life-giving, the other is vain. If you've never received Jesus' gift, repent and believe. If you are following Jesus, take time to reflect on the cross today. Thank Jesus that His life, death and resurrection have given new life to a once-dead heart.