Mind of a Christian - Chapter 2

Facing your sins with Basil the Great

So, I recently got the Ancient Faith Study Bible, which has notes from the early church fathers in the first few centuries of Christianity. I was reading Amos, when I saw a paragraph from Basil of Caesarea (Basil the Great) that was rich in gospel-forgiveness language. It was an excerpt from "Letter 44, To a Fallen Monk", so with my curiosity piqued, I went ahead and looked the letter up.

I strongly recommend that you read the letter yourself, so that you can share in my experiences. It's two paragraphs, with the second one being featured in my study bible:
https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf208/npnf208.ix.xlv.html
(yeah, good luck typing that since Wattpad doesn't allow you to highlight and copy text)

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I didn't know what I was expecting, but it was certainly not the first sentence:

I do not wish you joy, for there is no joy for the wicked.

I guess I should have expected something like this, especially if the letter was addressed to a fallen monk. And so I read on, as Basil laments of whatever the monk had done. He goes on to say how this monk's teaching inspired many people and encouraged other believers, and how his fall has hurt those very people and turned his good reputation to shame. Basil says it this way: you made shipwreck of all at once.

I couldn't help but see myself like the monk. I have my own set of private sins that I often try to convince myself is alright to do. I know the things that I ask forgiveness for, only to repeat the next day. As a youth leader, and an outspoken person among friends and coworkers when it comes to the faith, I have a lot of potential to be a visible expression of Christ.

As my pastor put it, my sins aren't private. They not only hurt me, but also others around me. It is the case with Basil's monk, and it is the case with me.

I felt sorely called out by Basil's letter.

But just as scathing as Basil was in his first paragraph, so great was his urging and appealing to God's compassionate character in the second paragraph. He encourages the monk to not lose hope, but instead to stand up and recall Jesus' character: that He is the Good Shepherd that seeks out the lost lamb. And Basil himself is eager to welcome the monk back, as with the rest who were associated with him.

Basil's second paragraph was a big turn-around, but I think the key thing for me (and hopefully for you) to see is that it is not a turn-around at all. It doesn't forget the seriousness of the monk's sins. But instead, it's in the face of these sins that Basil earnestly pleads that forgiveness is there. The gravity of the monk's sins and mine does not weaken the power of God's forgiveness, nor His desire to forgive.

Does being confronted with our wrong-doing hurt? Of course it does. And, during the heavy seasons of depression, it can be easy to go from recognizing my sins to thinking that I'm a lost cause, unable to be forgiven. But that's not at Basil's intention in his letter, nor God's intention when He makes us confess our sins. Rather, it's as the prophet wrote in Ezekiel 18:

"Cast off from you all your transgressions that you have committed. Make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies"—it is a declaration of ADONAI—"so return, and live!"

God wants us to recognize the hurt and damage towards Him and others when we sin. God wants to forgive us fully. One doesn't diminish the other, and both are fueled by His love. I think that this has been an important and refreshing take on how I understand the gospel.