Give a sinner a knife and he will find knots to cut. He doesn’t want things tied together, he wants things loose. Give a man a rope and he will make a noose. He claims he wants justice, punishment for those who deserve it. A knife is good, but in a culture of lynch mobs, a knife is good for cutting nooses. Rope is good, but in a culture of relativism and emotional goo, it’s good for tying knots that hold things together. Sin doesn’t need different tools, sin uses the good tools toward wrong ends.

Law and grace are misused gifts. The law is good for revealing the righteousness of God and our need for a Savior. Sinners use the law to accuse and condemn our neighbor. Grace is good for delivering us from the guilt and grasp of sin. Sinners use grace as a justification to plunge deeper into it.

What should we do? We should listen to God’s Word and not be choosy. We should hear all that He has to say, and learn what He loves and what He hates. But we overestimate our abilities and stop listening before He finishes speaking. God loves the perfect and hates perfectionism. He loves when His people walk in the Spirit and He hates when we try to walk in the Spirit apart from our feet.

Sinners are strict when they ought to forgive and compromise they ought to stand. We need to be ruthless with our sin, and never sin by being ruthless with our neighbor. We have many good gifts, let us use them as obedient sons.