Martin Luther’s famous quote “Sin boldly” has been way too many times misinterpreted. That easily happens when we don’t take the whole context and frame work in consideration.

Luther did not ever encourage to purposefully sin. According to Luther we are not to use the precious blood of Christ in vain (cheap grace if you will). Martin Luther intended to say that we are not to be fearful when it comes to living. We are to live boldly in Christ and not to think all the time whether this or that is a sin or not. We don’t get anything done that way. We are to focus on God instead on sins! We are to do our best and live the rest up to God. We are humans still bound to sin whether we like it or not. We are to live prayerfully and trust that God will guide our decisions.

Keeping that in mind…Too often we think it is better not to even try to listen to God’s voice because we might not get it right. So we give up. I dare to say it is far better to listen and make some mistakes (sin boldly if you will) as we learn to listen to God’s voice than giving up all together. It’s better to live boldly in Christ in this matter. God will guide us and bless us as we learn to listen to him.

Keeping that in mind…Sometimes we even stop sharing our faith with others because we might offend some people. Yes, there are always people criticizing. If that’s the reason we don’t try to spread the gospel, the devil wins hands down. Sure, sometimes we do offend people without noticing or intending to do so. Sure, sometimes we don’t act like we should. We are not perfect. We do sin. But that is not a good enough reason to quit. We are to live boldly in Christ! Because God loves us, Christ redeems us, and the Holy Spirit sustains us!

Gracious God,

Guide us to live boldly!
Guide us to listen to you!
Guide us to share your love with others!
Guide us as we learn how to be bold in you!
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: What’s your take on the subject matter?