Jen Wilkin was scrolling through Instagram when she saw “a scripted quote overlaid neatly on a soft-focus photo: ‘You will never turn from a sin you don’t hate.’”
Wilkin had recently committed a sin she’d hoped was no longer part of her life. But as she read the caption, she realized why this particular sin hadn’t quite left her yet—she didn’t hate it yet.
“I had turned back toward something I should detest, something from which I had been dragged free. With my conviction and confession still fresh, God chose to deliver a miniature sermon to me via Instagram. Using, of all things, my own words.”
The sentence, Wilkin explains, belonged to her. She’d taught it for years. The caption was attributed to her.
“In the strange alternate universe that is social media, I was literally preaching to myself.”
While they may not have occurred on social media, most of us have probably had a moment like this. We’re giving advice to a friend or critiquing a television character’s behavior when suddenly we feel a bit of a twinge. Am I being a hypocrite? Do I take the high road I’m so quick to preach to others?
In truth, we probably don’t. Not all the time. But as Wilkin points out, “sanctification, while certain, is not sudden.” Salvation does not deliver us a quick fix. Rather, it offers us grace, a grace that forgives us when we err yet again, and a grace that teaches us to reject sin over years of failure, repentance, and trying again.
Our God is patient with us—pleased with our desire to leave sin behind and faithful to guide us toward greater freedom and faithfulness. Even, as Wilkin writes, when we’re preaching to ourselves.
