How Could I Sin?

by Julian Freeman

A prayer for growth in holiness:

Father, how could I sin?

Having seen your hatred for sin and your love for righteousness, how could I sin?

I have seen the fullness of your just anger borne by Christ for me. How could I be speak angrily to others?

I have seen your patience with me through decades of rebellion. How could I be impatient with others?

I have seen how you work the evil of others for good. How could I be bitter?

I have seen your seeking, adopting, pursuing, and wooing love. How could I turn a blind eye to those seeking love from me?

I have seen your mercy, compassion, and willingness to condescend to help me. How could I stand over others and judge?

I have seen Jesus, the King of Creation, receiving insults and mocking. How could I live for the approval of other people?

I have seen Jesus drinking a cup of wrath from your hand when all he deserved was worship from our mouths. How could I covet something better than what I’ve been given?

I have seen my dying Saviour, and in that moment, I saw what I deserved. How could I complain against your providence in my life?

I have seen the agony of your Son. How could I delight in what caused it?

I have seen in Christ that there is joy at your right hand that is worth dying to attain. How could I be so easily infatuated with the world’s trinkets?

I have seen how Jesus loved his bride to the end. How could I be frustrated with my wife?

I have seen your costly and lavish love in the giving of your Son and your Spirit. How then could I withhold generosity from those around me?

I have seen the empty tomb and I know that because he lives, I live to you, Father. How could I do the will of your enemy?

I have seen the grace of your Spirit changing my heart’s desires. How could I condemn others for not changing themselves?

Father, grant that the eyes of my heart would see and that I would be strengthened by the working of your Spirit to behold the immensity of your love for me in the death and resurrection of your Son, so that in beholding more of your love, I might love you more. Grant me such a view of Jesus — the crucified and coming King — that I might not sin against you.

Please fill my mind with thoughts of your love that sin becomes unthinkable.