Sin, grace and pain

Sin and grace
This concept, the codependence between sin and grace, has been also on my mind. We teach very impressionable minds about god and how we relate to him, especially as sinners. A co staffer was trying to say yesterday at our meeting that sin is such a tabu topic among her 8 graders. Mostly because it is unbearable to live happily and yet fully aware of our sinful nature. And yet, god did die for us on the cross so we can be cleansed and be made holy again. And there are two extremes that we ought to be aware of. Either taking grace for granted, and without much effort on our part, think that god will always forgive and clean us, because that's what he does, taking it for granted; or be so overwhelmed in our consciousness by the sin in our lives, exacerbating it and listening to satan's whisper that we are not worthy of forgiveness. And never even dare to come to god with our burdens. 
The way I found my balance in this, was to let my heart deal with the truth. And make david's prayer from the psalms: "search my heart oh god and see if I am on your path. " being honest with ourselves is a good start in being honest with god. When we ask for god's help to overcome a temptation, do we knowingly avoid that temptation or we flirt with it, and then if we fall again, we blame it on god, that he didn't save us, or he didn't give us the strength to o ercome the temptation of sin. God is omnipresent and he can see your heart. Don't let yourself be fooled by Satan. 
So, that's my say in this. And if you ever experience guilt, it means that your conscience is healthy and awake. Don't shut your conscience up, but find the root of your spiritual pain.  Just like a healthy body that feels pain so you can fix the sickness, not cover up the pain. That's why I don't like pain killers. They just cover up a signal that my body sends to my brain. Pain killers have their purspose only when pain is unbearable and you need help to cope with it, be in a functioning state of mind, so you can help yourself.