School is school. Sometimes I like it, but other times I really don't. Sometimes when I don't (especially when studying), I like to take breaks and give my brain a chance to rest. So I read.
I have always been a big reader. I liked mostly fantasy as a kid, but growing up I like to read all kinds of things; novels, blogs, history, etc. Most of the books I brought with me were theological books. But sometimes I just want to read some fantasy and enjoy the imagination of others.
When I was last home, I made sure to grab The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. I haven't read all of them and I love the story, so I decided to from the beginning. When I read (even when it's for pleasure and to rest), I tend to analize things. I think about what the author says and I compare and contrast to world views and beliefs (mainly Christian). Today I was reading the second chapter of The Fellowship of the Ring and something stood out to me.
"'There is only one way: to find the Cracks of Doom in the depths of Orodruin, the Fire-mountain, and cast the Ring in there, if you really wish to destroy it, to put it beyond the grasp of the Enemy for ever.'
'I do really wish to destroy it!' cried Frodo. 'Or, well to have it destroyed. I am not made for perilous quests. I wish I had never seen the Ring! Why did it come to me? Why was I chosen?
'Such questions cannot be answered,' said Gandalf. 'You may be sure that it was not for any merit that others do not possess: not for power or wisdom, at any rate. But you have been chosen, and you must therefore use such strength and heart and wits as you have.'
'But I have so little of any of these things! You are wise and powerful. Will you not take the Ring?
'No!' cried Gandalf, springing to his feet. 'With that power I should have power too great and terrible. And over me the Ring would gain a power still greater and more deadly.' His eyes flashed and his face was lit as by a fire within. 'Do not tempt me! For I do not wish to become like the Dark Lord himself. Yet the way of the Ring to my heart is by pity, pity for weakness and the desire of strength to do good. Do not tempt me! I date not take it, not even to keep it safe, unused. The wish to wield it would be too great for my strength. I shall have such a need of it. Great perils lie before me.'"
Most of that is just context for the last paragraph. When I read Gandalf's response to being offered the ring, I was struck by his passion and fear of giving in to temptation. He is scared of what would happen if he gives in and takes the Ring. That got me thinking about my response to my sin.
I wondered about the response to temptation in this life. My reaction to sin and temptation (more often than not) is that it's not that serious; especially the "respectable sins." They're common. Everyone does them. Surely they aren't that serious.
In Matthew 5, Jesus shows people their sinfulness, not through there sinful actions, but through their sinful thoughts. He one-ups the view of sin by taking what they knew about it through the law and showing them that their hearts are corrupt. Even those "little sins" (those "little thoughts") are sins that issue us a one-way ticket to Hell.
Sin should scare us. Consider this line: "Yet the way of the Ring to my heart is by pity, pity for weakness and the desire of strength to do good." Sin affects us in our weakest areas and just spreads around. It's seductive. One thing that Gandalf does here, that I wish I could apply more, is that he identifies the lie that sin tells him. Sin tells us that what we are doing is right, when it is clearly wrong. Or it tells us that it is better than what Jesus promises. And it all leads to destruction. This should make us react fearful of sins affects and defensively as Gandalf did.
But there is a remedy to both our fear and our sin: the cross of Christ. Christ died to bear the punishment for our sins. We will not experience the lasting, condemning affects of sin in our lives. Christ has paid that price. We no longer have to.
And because of that we no longer have to be fearful. Jesus has given us the power to fight sin. We don't have to fear anymore, because we can fight it. Why can we fight it? Because Jesus has destroyed it already. This is the great hope of the gospel! We live no longer in fear, but in hope! We no longer are dead, but alive! We no longer fight in vain, but trust in God's grace!
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