Whether you've been a Christian for one day or for one decade, you would still be in a position where you struggle with sin. And this could lead you to ask the question: "Why can't God just erase sin from the world?"
Skeptics will, of course, blame God because many perceive Him to be bigoted, self-centred, blood-thirsty and power-hungry. If you're of this mindset then God bless you, but here's a perspective that you may choose to ignore but one that seems more plausible.
We all know that God is a God of justice and He desires justice, but we also know that God is a God of love who finds enjoyment in seeing His own people turn to him fully. As a parent, I know for a fact how much more fulfilling it is to see my 3-year-old daughter choose to obey my rules without me having to impose them compared to having to put her on a leash every single day of her life.
In the same way, God desires for us to turn to Him fully of our accord. This is what we call free will. The reason why God put the tree that bore the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden was because He didn't want Adam and Eve to ever feel that they had no other choice except to follow God.
If He did not put that tree there, then He would have only proven that He was only hungry for power and control, which He is not. God is instead loving in nature and chose to create man with a choice. Sadly, many times, man has chosen his own way, which will lead only to sin and death.
God did not create sin. He merely gave man the opportunity to make a choice for himself whether He would follow God or not. Would Adam have not sinned if the tree wasn't there? I believe that he would have probably found another way to reject God if he really wanted to. Lucifer didn't have to eat of a God-made tree to fall into sin, but he still found a way.
So why can't God just take away sin? Because if He had to remove it, He would have to remove our rights to make our own choices and that goes against His loving nature. It's not God's fault that we're still sinning. It's ours alone.
Also, to remove sin would mean God would most likely have to remove good things that He created that we have used for the wrong reasons. For instance, we could ask God to remove our sexual desires so we can flee sexual immorality, but that would mean we would also be disqualified from the great gift that is sex in the context of His plan and will of marriage.
But God, always gracious and loving, found a way to set us free from the bondage of sin even if we still existed in sinful and selfish ways. That is by sending Jesus to die on a cross for the forgiveness of our sins and so that we can continue to choose a life lived with Him today.
God's love and grace will surmount our stupidity and wrong choices, and we are blessed to have this opportunity to build a relationship with a God who did not force Himself upon us, but instead gave us a choice. I hope today, you can make the right choice of choosing God above all else.
