Guest Post! 'Reflections on the Cycle of Sin' by Sunny Chapin
- Mira
- Feb 9
- 6 min read
Hi reader! It's me, Mira, popping in to wish you HAPPY MONDAY. Today, we have a very special post- one of my dear friends, Sunny Chapin, a fellow young writer, has agreed to publish a guest post on Vintage heart for you all. I'm so excited to post this for you guys! ♥
Before I get into these reflections, I would like to give a big thanks to sweet Mira for the space to share these thoughts, and for her amazing blog! It’s so wonderful to have such inspirational and Spirit-led writing available to young Christians. <3
15 Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
~ Exodus 33:15-16
Lately, I have been reading through Exodus, Leviticus, and Daniel. It is making a few things very clear to me about humans, in relationship to God, and also myself, in my own relationship with God. When I sat down to pray about what to share in this guest post, God didn’t exactly drop the answer in my lap in a bow, all ready for me to simply expound upon and polish with a smile. It was more like He gave me just enough time to worry about it ever being clear, have some fun times with imposter syndrome, and then decided to clarify it with a couple truth bombs straight to my pride. Arrogantly, I hadn’t expected to learn something about myself when I prayed for a topic to write about.
A Happy Go-Lucky Lens
The messages of today’s preachers is mostly the same fluffy tone. The emphasis is on the Happy Jesus, the Loving Jesus, the Nice Jesus. But, in a way, the singling out of everything positive in the gospel puts a bad taste in my mouth. It almost neglects the Old Testament’s value.
And without the backing of the Old Testament, people are left with a lackluster and shallow view of Jesus. It then begs the question of “Why is Jesus so great?”
“Why is what he did so important?”
Why is he any different than simply another sacrificial do-gooder throughout history, as some believe him to be?
Now, I won’t be getting into the entirety of the Old Testament and the importance of Christ, Creator of the universe and Savior of Man. That would be quite the task, and you may as well just go read the extended version that has already been written long before our time. (I encourage you to do so anyway, of course, and hope that you have been already.)
No, what I want to do is simply highlight a pattern that I see throughout both the New and Old Testaments. The cycle of sin.
A Cycle of Sin
It began with the apple of course. The snake. We all know that. But Man never just sins once, repents, and moves on with his life. No. It’s a cycle.
All throughout history, all throughout the life of humanity. Even God’s chosen nation, whom He delivered from slavery to Egypt, repeatedly turned from Him.
32 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
~Exodus 32:1
In the face of God, we let doubt and fear and pride move us to do terrible things. And afterword, we are crippled by the shame.
This is where the cycle comes in. The cycle of sin goes round and round throughout our lives and history. We turn from God, mess up big time, realize how absolutely bat-blind and terrible we are, reach for God after He keeps pursuing us, and are forgiven.
Doubt and Human Expectations of God
And then, after all that, somehow we get silly enough to think that we are supposed to prove ourselves worthy of this forgiveness by doing everything ourselves. As if it’s even possible to do things on our own, and the trials ahead are meant to showcase our strength instead of His.
This belief is self-destructive and a dead end to possibilities. It is founded on doubt in God, planted by the enemy. When we let this belief take root, it leaves no room for God’s unlimited power and miracles to take place. It puts His eternal power in a box of hours and minutes.
8 Then the Lord said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second. 9 But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.”
10 Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”
11 The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord?
~ Exodus 4:8-11
In this passage of scripture, we see Moses presented directly with God’s direction and assurance. Yet he still speaks as if it will depend upon himself, as if God can not do a miracle in him as He has done miracles all around him.
In Exodus 6:10-12, again he doubts. Instead of focusing on God’s glory and strength, he is focused on his own weakness.
This sort of mindset is doomed from the start, because we are a people full of weakness and sin. Focusing on ourselves can only blind us to God’s glory, as it does for Moses here. He is limiting God’s power to that of man, as if He is restricted by the rules of logic and possibility that we have constructed from our own limited experiences.
The Strength That Sustains
16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand.
~ Daniel 3:16-17
Yet even as God delivered Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, He also delivered the Israelites. Even though they doubted, complained, and rebelled, He still held fast to His promise to them.
He makes that same promise to us. He promises to deliver us through His strength, if only we are willing servants of Him and His Word, and give glory to His name.
10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”
~ Exodus 3:10-12
A King Through Trial and Tribulation
I say all this, because it’s important to know that it might not feel worth it. We need to strive, to suffer, in an uphill battle of refining ourselves for Christ before we get to the top. We are our own obstacles, the world all too tempting and our fears numerous.
Everything’s against us. Everything but God. And in every part of it, He is with us. In every hour of our day, moment of struggle, and fiery furnace. Every doubt or pride that we have in ourselves. Every anxiety or impatience.
Today, I pray that you are able to let go of a bit of worry and take on a garment of peace, in the reassurance that Jesus is here to follow through on His promises.
Blessings on you all. <3
26 “I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel.
“For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end.
~ Daniel 6:26
Sunny J. Chapin is a writer, a poet, and the author of the newly published "I Watch the Sky Unfold." As a teenager being homeschooled in the hills of Ohio, she has been given plenty of space and encouragement to pursue her love of reading and writing. Her faith in God is nurtured by both her parents and her strong church community, and her biggest goal is to bring glory to His name through her words and creations.
Hi reader! Are you interested in reading more of Sunny's amazing writing? Go follow her on Substack!
Pssst!! Did you know that she also writes fiction, and is working on a novel? It's a comedic fantasy about a prince and his quest to find friendship with pirates in the mix! If that sounds up your alley, you're in luck, because Sunny has graciously agreed to publish The Love and Lament of Lorenzo Lompfinhomer on an indie magazine publication, so you can have a sneak peek. Go give them a subscribe, and check out their past issues so you never miss an issue of Lorenzo!
ALSO SHE HAS A PUBLISHED BOOK. YES REALLY. Go check it out on Amazon!!
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