Gutter Talk

A famous, long-dead preacher once said to a friend about a drunk man lying in the gutter: “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” In imagination’s ear, I hear the drunk, after lifting his head to stare into the long-dead preacher’s face: “And there, sir, but for the grace of God, go I.” Then I hear him say, “And here, by the grace of God, am I.” Is it possible that our sin and our sinning is, in some way, necessary? Is it possible that the “all things” of Romans 11:36 includes sin itself and my specific sinning? Though still in speculative mode, it is increasingly difficult for me to get past that conclusion. A heretic the thought makes me, but by most I would be branded that already-being burned for two heresies is no hotter than for one.