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Sin, Struggle, and the Journey of Redemption

Sin, Struggle, and the Journey of Redemption

Last updated on: January 18, 2017 at 10:01 pm by Kate Cousino

Sin, Struggle, and the Journey of Redemption 2017-01-18T22:01:20-04:00 Kate Cousino

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More of the best of “Heart Speaks to Heart”. This post was written in July 2007. Topical details aside, it continues to be relevant. Interestingly enough, most of the comments on the original post had to do with modesty…but the conversation I am interested in having here is about our reactions to “hypocrisy”.

Every once in a while I am reminded how alien Catholic thinking is to the secular world.

A few things brought this to mind recently. First, Dawn Eden wrote about a reporter who was skeptical at the finding that men find too-tight clothing and excess makeup unattractive:

“It doesn’t seem to even cross the reporter’s mind that a man might be momentarily distracted by a skimpily dressed woman and yet not want to have anything to do with her.”

Ms. Eden’s comment is born out in her comments box where a number of men attest to their dislike of having their sexual drive yanked about by women who are dressed immodestly. They don’t want to look, but they do – and that doesn’t mean that they are liars when they claim to prefer more modestly dressed ladies.

The second thing to bring this to mind was a discussion I took part in on a breastfeeding forum. The general gist of the discussion was whether or not covering up while breastfeeding perpetuates the idea that breastfeeding is somehow shameful. I observed that it depended on the company – I have too much respect for the men in my life to want to make things more difficult for them if a display of flesh is going to be an occasion or temptation to lust for them. The response I got was “well, if a friend of mine couldn’t help but look, he wouldn’t be a friend any more.”

The third event to prompt this post is the revelation of Sen. Vitter’s past liasons with the D.C. Madam. Senator Vitter is a Louisiana politician who has fought for family values, and the local reaction has been rather harsh, mostly from liberal types who are angry, not that Sen. Vitter engaged in an illegal and immoral act, but that he would dare try to pass legislation compelling others to be moral while himself living a lie. Hypocrite is possibly the most kind thing that has been said of him.

Echoing in my head through all of this has been these words from St. Paul:

“I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. …I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.” (Romans 7:15-19)

St. Paul goes on to affirm the value of setting your mind on the things of God, even if your body is still enslaved to sin:

“To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, indeed it cannot; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

… But if Christ is in you, although your bodies are dead because of sin, your spirits are alive because of righteousness.” (Romans 8:6-8,10)

How is it that St. Paul could say, “I do the very thing I hate” and the turn around and tell the early Christians that “to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace”?

The truth is that to be Christian in this world does not require perfection. It is scandal to the world to see this, but it is also the hope Christianity extends to all those trapped doing “the very thing [they] hate.” The hope is that, while we were sinners, Christ came to save us. The hope is that “God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.” Christ himself said it when, after being criticised for breaking bread with tax collectors and sinners, he asked in reply whether it was the healthy or the sick who need a doctor.

Knowing what is good is no guarantee against sin. Sen. Vitter knows this, I am sure. The gentlemen commenters at Dawn Eden’s know this. They know what kind of men God would have them be. But they fall short, even knowing that. And it is their very failures that cause them to cling more closely to He who saves – who helps them find their feet and stand again.

After all, what is the alternative? We know we are weak – that is why we need a Saviour. It seems to me that we have two choices, and those two choices only. We challenge our weakness by clinging to the Lord who saves, or we cater to our weakness by excusing it and wallowing in it.

Larry Flynt, who has made it his mission to catch family values politicians with their pants down, has obviously chosen the second path. He makes his living extending Satan’s nets further so that he will not have to be alone in the trap of sexual sin. I do not know Senator Vitter’s heart, but I would like to believe that he is choosing the first path – the path that seeks redemption, getting back up and brushing off the mud to try again after every fall into the gutter. We all fall into sin. Do we try to surpass it, try to save others from it? Or do we surrender to it and pretend it is no big deal?

My husband’s comment on all this was to say that “any man who strives to be someone worthy of respect must accept that he will at some time be a hypocrite.” That is to say that when we set our sights high, we will inevitably fall short. But we can’t rise at all if we do not take that risk.

The truth is, redemption is a journey that takes a lifetime…and sometimes more.

I think our society, as Christian as its inheritance is, has forgotten this truth. Forgotten it, in part, because it never knew it. When I did youth evangelisation, years ago, we did a testimony writing workshop. Now, the basic template was one used widely in protestant circles, but as Catholics we needed to adjust it somewhat. You see, while a born-again evangelical has only one testimony, one moment to point to as the moment of his transformation in Christ, I have many. I don’t have to pretend that my life changed completely when I let Christ into my heart. It did change, but I have had to let go of so many things over the last decade to make more room for Him. My relationship with Christ changes daily; grows, I hope, daily; and changes me, daily. I don’t have one testimony. I have hundreds.

Our society has heard that all it takes to change your life completely is to accept Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour. No wonder it is angry to meet Christians who love God, and yet sin.

Our Church knows this. I have heard it told that the Church is a hospital for invalids, and it is true. I have heard it said that the Church is a life raft for the drowning, and it is true. We are all saints-in-training, but we aren’t there yet. God willing, we will all get there someday.

I guess my final thought in all this is a prayer for those who are struggling, particularily with habitual or compulsive sins. Too many men find themselves trapped in a cycle of sexual sin, unable to get out. It is out of compassion for that struggle that I try to be modest, to aid those who are fighting their hardest to keep custody of their eyes. Too many of us find ourselves confessing the same sins over and over again, feeling like we have made little progress in our spiritual journey. May we be as merciful to each struggling soul as our merciful God is to us.

And may we all fight the good fight, with our eyes fixed on Jesus, the source of “peace and life.”

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