12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
It seems to me that we have an attitude towards sin and temptation in this country which is almost exactly the opposite of what it should be.
Jesus had nothing but mercy and compassion for repentant sinners. The tax collectors and prostitutes loved Him for precisely that reason - because He showed them greater kindness and acceptance than anyone else they had ever encountered - especially religious people. Certainly they sensed that He did not approve of their actions (see for example, Jesus' admonition to the woman caught in adultery in John 8), but there was no rejection of them as people; no self-righteous "horror" at their sin; no spillover from the hatred of sin into hatred of people.
But with unrepentant, Jesus was brutal. He told the self-righteous religious leaders: "Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?" (Matthew 23:33)
This much is well-known, and talked about fairly often in the church, but I think there may be an implication of this that we miss. Certainly, self-righteousness and spiritual pride are abhorrent evils, the most diabolical of all sins, far more so than greed and sexual immorality, especially when the latter are engaged in by desperate people with few options. But it's worth looking at the implications of Jesus' attitude for an individual struggling to be holy.
Our culture doesn't have much patience for people who are struggling with temptation. There is a sense that we ought not to be "legalistic", that we ought to "relax," or give ourselves some "slack." In other words, we really shouldn't try too hard to be holy. We can pay lip service to holiness if we want to, but "nobody's perfect", as long as we keep our sinning to a more or less respectable level.
But on the other side, our culture is brutally unforgiving to sinners, especially if your sin happens to be politically incorrect (such as being a church leader who falls into sexual sin). There is a sense that whatever condemnation and abuse such a person gets, they deserve it. Unfortunately, this seems to be pretty much just as true of the American church as the rest of the culture. (look at the reaction to the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky episode, for instance).
In this, we are imitating the god of this world. The devil's approach to the issue of holiness is to convince us that it's no big deal when we're tempted, and then weigh in on us with accusation and condemnation after we yield to him.
We need to imitate Jesus in our approach to holiness. The time for toughness, harshness, and extreme measures is before we fall into sin. After we have fallen, then it is time for complete gentleness, acceptance, and forgiveness. Jesus told His disciples to forgive a repentant brother over and over and over again - even if he repeated the sin seven times in one day. If this is true in our treatment of each other, then how much more true is it of God's treatment of us in our failings? We need to learn to love and accept each other - and ourselves - in precisely the way our Father accepts us in our weakness. (Romans 15:7)
