Because the forgiveness of sin is the only thing that can possibly untangle our own pain from the hidden and idolatrous ways we’ve managed it. Our soul’s anguish from our heart’s pride: a distinction that simply isn’t available to us. Because it is only the forgiveness of sin that can stand against the Hardness of the Heart and stand with us in our distress, that can heal wounds and bury our hardness of heart, that knows what needs to be mended and what needs to be driven out and overturned. The forgiveness of sin is the only way it can be done without cruelty.
