We Cannot Repair What We Have Done.

Imagine a child as he sneaks into the corner to play with matches.  As he lights the first match he doesn't notice that he is a bit too close to the curtains.  Before he knows it, the entire house is in flames.  The family escapes and watches their home burn to the ground.

The child, with guilt welling up inside, knowing that his disobedience was the cause of this disaster, looks up at his parents and says these words: "Don't worry Mom and Dad.  I'm going to fix this."

They look down at the child with a depressed, but frustrated face knowing good and well that their five-year-old cannot even come close to repairing what has just been lost.  Sure, he is capable of the damage.  But he is completely unable to repair it.

And that is the irony of our situation.  We have the ability to damage, but the inability to repair.  We are immensely valuable, but extremely vulnerable.  Sin is not only tragic in that it condemns us; it is even more so because it violates an image bearer.  Tragedy lies less in the one who takes and more in that which is lost.

To make matters even worse, we, like the child, move immediately from damage to reparation.  We simply try and fix that which is broken.  When we hurt, we quickly try to heal.

The idea that we can make reparations for our sin devalues the one against whom we have sinned.  We forget that, as image bearers, we carry a divine value - not that we are gods, but that we are created in the image of God.  Penalties reflect the worth of the victim.  And if we believe we can pay sin's penalty, we devalue the One who has been transgressed.  Sin against God demands a divine payment.  We simply do not have the resources to pay.

Further, the reparation idea is extremely prideful as it overvalues our abilities.  In thinking we can repair things, we become God.  Our works have divine worth and are not to be thought of as "filthy rags."  So, not only do we think less of the victim (and of God), but we think too much of ourselves.

Last, reparations can only be made by Christ - the God-Man.  As Anselm so rightly said, "It could not have been done unless man paid what was owing to God for sin. But the debt was so great that while man alone owed it, only God could pay it, so that the same person must be both man and God."

So, when we sin, we should never skim past repentance.  We should value the image of God in the other, and ultimately the God we have sinned against.  And we should recognize our utter inability to repair what our hands have done.  This is why He is the Prince of Peace.  And this is why faith in Christ is critical for every relationship in life.  The Gospel is not about what we can do, but about what He has done.