Two ideas come together - a comment by Henri Nouwen in Charles Ringma's devotional Dare to Journey with Henri Nouwen about human need to know the heart of God 'that forgives, that cares, that reaches out and wants to heal' (Reflection 90), and Timothy Keller's comments about sin in his book The Reason for God that 'the Christian doctrine of sin is a source of human hope' (p161).
Hope comes when we see possibilities of acceptance and affirmation despite the (sometimes very obvious) flaws in our lives and our living. As Keller points out, the reality of our mistakes, failures and offenses leads us to a dismal view of our own existence and of the world's circumstances. But when we experience the love of God, who loves us before we every deserve it or understand it, we can begin to realise that the fullness of life is not dependent on how well or poorly we perform, but on our acceptance of the truth that we are loved by God unconditionally.
And of course our lives change, and the world is changed as we try to be more the way God would have us be.
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