Psalm 130:3 –
LORD, if you kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive?
If you think about it, just pick a day and make a tick for each “sin” and record what you do. Every lie you tell, even if it’s just a little one, gets a tick mark. Your interactions with others get looked at closely as well as your “secret” deeds. Yep this includes thoughts AND actions! Remember Jesus said if you lust in your heart that’s the same as adultery. So at the end of day look at all the ticks factor in “good” and “bad” days and then multiply them by 365, suddenly this number gets very large. Then multiply the number of years on this earth.
For some that number gets very large and almost embarrassing! This is where you are thankful God is not keeping record. Now there are two factors that enable us to live without a “laundry list” of our inappropriate actions being held over our heads. The first is God’s love, which as a parent you quickly understand how that ensures you’ll forgive. The second is Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for our sins. This reason is more difficult to understand in today’s context since the sacrificial system of forgiveness has been long gone, hence why reading the OT is so valuable.
Now does this mean there are no consequences for sin? No, not at all, but it does mean the act will be held over our heads for the rest of our lives by God! Now one can feel that your consequences are never ending, like my financial debacle, but they are not because of God holding a magnifying glass over our heads! No many times repairing damage from a sin takes years as many times it took years to dig oneself into a hold God is not going to magically pop you out of the hole. The key is when standing before God have we been remorseful or ignorant?