I am divorced. Am I doomed to hell?

In the sermon on the mount (Mt. 5) Jesus says if you get divorced except for infidelity you commit adultry. Jesus says several other things that are a sin (including anger) then leads up to the last verse of the chapter to say you must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect (Mt. 5: 48) and if we don't keep the law as well as the pharisees and teachers of the law we will not enter the kingdom of heaven (5:20).

But is that the end of it? Shouldn't there be more? What about grace, hope, love, all that stuff? If that's the end, I am totally screwed.

Indeed, Moses gave us the law in Exodus but Jesus gave us the law of grace and truth (Jn 1:17).

If we carry each other's burden's we will fulfill the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2).

So maybe Jesus was explaining to the Jews (as a Jew himself) how the law of Moses works in Mt. 5 and was really trying to say, "look guys, this is what we got. It's not bad. It just won't work. Like you can't earn you way into heaven by being perfect."

If that's the case, maybe asking what is and is not a sin is less important than asking God how we should live if we want to live by the law of Christ.

Maybe what really counts is living our faith in love (Gal. 5:6).

Maybe we should stop judging ourselves and judging others (Lk. 6:37) and start living a life filled with love. Whoever lives in love lives in God and God lives him them (1 Jn 4:16) because God is love (I Jn 4:8).

Maybe love is the fulfilment of the law (Gal 13:10).

If that's the case, thanks be to God, I don't have to make a list of all the sins I need to be sure and not do (but will do anyway) and just focus on being compassionate to myself and to others (I can do that)!!!!

As always, thank you for joining me. If you have questions or comments, feel free to email me at [email protected].

May your day be filled with compassionate thoughts, kind words and actions, and curiosity in all things today and every day.