I visited a factory a few years back, and just inside the security checkpoint there was a big sign. It really stole my attention because the sign was showing workers and visitors how many days had passed since the last ‘accident’ had taken place. A pretty good bit of encouragement for management to see how well their processes were being implemented, and for the staff to know they were acting responsibly. The number placed up on the sign, if I recall, was quite high, so the factory was chugging along quite nicely and quite safely. I’d think the day something happened and those numbers were removed, morale would be quite low. ‘There have been 0 days since the last safety breech’ Yikes!
Imagine there was a sign like this up in your house. In the room where you spend time with God; reading the Word, or whatever. And you charted the number of days ‘since the last time you sinned’! Could you imagine! So every day you make it in your daily walk without ‘dropping the ball’ would go up on the sign and if you did drop the ball, you would take the numbers down to show off a big round ZERO. That would break my heart.
Ok, in practice this might be cumbersome and condemning, but my point is simply that we are called to be a holy people.
1 Peter 1:16 …for it is written, be holy, because I am holy
We are sinful, yes, but Grace can not be our excuse for going out there and living corruptly, irresponsibly and irreverently. We are saved by the favour that God has extended to us through Jesus and it covers our sin, but we still need to live upright lives, that show our gratitude for the sacrifice of our Jesus. Perhaps it’s not practical to count the moments between sinning, but perhaps the story of what I saw outside that factory that day could see us making an effort to at least change our attitudes to sin and what God expects of us and strive to honour a Saviour that has given His all for us. Let’s live like forgiven sinners, not forgetful ones.