Seeing Sin without Obsessing Over it

I bless you to know

The predicament of sin

And your powerlessness over sin

Apart from Christ

Because, like an exhausted swimmer

In the deeps,

It is the prospect of drowning that

Makes the rescuer’s life preserver

So beautiful and attractive and indispensable

In your eyes.

To know the predicament of sin

And your powerless over sin

Is not to be preoccupied with your sin.

The sinking swimmer need only know

That the water is too deep

And the distance too far.

He need not rehearse the poverty of

His breaststroke or

The sluggishness of his freestyle.

No, the sinking swimmer has no time for shame,

It only weighs him further down.

The sinking swimmer needs only know

He is out of his depth and needs the lifeguard.

May you see your sin

Only so you can see your Savior.