From Sin-Consciousness to Christ-Consciousness
Rev. Aniekan "Mbomboyo" Okokon ·
Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? — Hebrews 10:2
The writer of Hebrews makes a remarkable argument. The proof that the old sacrifices did not work is that people kept feeling guilty. Year after year the blood was shed, and year after year the worshippers came back with the same consciousness of sin. A sacrifice that actually cleansed would leave the conscience clean.
Then he tells us that such a sacrifice has been offered — once, for all — and draws the conclusion: draw near "with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience" (10:22). The blood of Christ was meant to do to your conscience what no sacrifice before it could: settle it.
What sin-consciousness does
A sin-conscious believer approaches God through his failures. He inventories them before he prays, expects them to be the subject of every sermon, and measures his week by how few he committed. His attention is on sin, and what we behold we become. Sin-consciousness does not produce holiness. It produces anxiety, hiding, and — ironically — more sin.
What Christ-consciousness does
- It approaches God through Christ’s finished work, every time, whatever the week held.
- It deals with sin quickly and honestly, because it has nothing to protect — confession is a return, not a trial.
- It fixes its eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2), and finds that what it beholds it becomes: "we all… beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image" (2 Corinthians 3:18).
- It expects victory as the normal shape of the life it has been given.
The turn
Christ-consciousness is not pretending sin does not exist. It is refusing to let sin be the centre of your awareness when Christ has offered Himself to be. When the old accusation rises, do not argue with it on its own terms. Look at Him. That is not avoidance. It is the whole method of the Christian life: looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.