Pig Slop

I looked in the slop bucket this morning. Can you imagine being the prodigal son, reduced to eating this with the pigs? After living the high life, scorning respectability and responsibility, a Jewish man is caring for pigs (unclean in more ways than one!) and 'longing' to eat their food--while knowing he had rejected the life his father freely offered. (Luke 15:11-31)
Disgusting.

In reading Crazy Love, I am reminded that God HATES sin.

"It takes a lot for us to comprehend God's total hatred for sin. We make excuses like 'Yes, I am prideful at times, but everyone struggles with pride.' However, God says in Proverbs 8:13 'I hate pride and arrogance.' You and I are not allowed to tell Him how much He can hate it. He can hate and punish it as severely as His justice demands" (34).

I wonder how long it will be before I see with God's eyes. How long until I look at sin and see it as repulsive and disgusting--far more so than that picture of slop for the pigs that I wouldn't even consider eating. God the Father has so much to offer us, such peace and joy and abundant life, yet we tend to wallow in the mire with the pigs, blindly preferring this supposed 'pleasure for a season' because we simply don't see it as disgusting.

In his convicting profile of the lukewarm person Chan describes "Lukewarm people don't really want to be saved from their sin; they want only to be saved from the penalty of their sin. They don't genuinely hate sin and aren't truly sorry for it; they're merely sorry because God is going to punish them. Lukewarm people don't really believe that this new life Jesus offers is better than the old sinful one" (70). They "probably drink and swear less than average," he continues, "but besides that, they really aren't very different from your typical unbelievers. They equate their partially sanitized lives with holiness, but they couldn't be more wrong" (79).

Dear Lord, Give me your vision of sin. Remove temptation far from me, and fill me with hatred for sin that separates me from you. Cleanse my palate and renew my appetite for You. Through the name of Your Son Who was tortured, mocked, beaten and died for my sin, Amen.