Recidivism

I have read a variety of things over my life and that has led me to believe that I don’t have a large vocabulary (although I likely have a larger than average vocabulary). Anyway, I’ve always been fascinated by finding new words that I don’t know so I’m constantly looking for such.

However, I also know that a lot of people get turned off by someone who uses “big words” a lot. So, I try not to over use them. Sometimes, I can’t help myself because it is the better word to use in context. For example, I was talking to my wife yesterday and I told her to gird herself for whatever I was warning her I was going to do (probably something stupid or irritating).  She looked at me and told me that she had no idea what I was trying to tell her.  I explained that my understanding of the word “gird” was to put on amour or get yourself ready for something (you’ll be happy to know I stopped writing this to see if the dictionary was close to my understanding and it is).

My favorite “big word” is quinquennial. The word means recurring every five years. I occasionally used it before I retired whenever we created rates that changed every five years of the persons life. You’ve probably seen those advertisements for say term life insurance where your rate is based on which five year age group you fall in. If you are explaining your rates to management and you refer to them as quinquennial rates, they look at you funny until they get used to the word if they haven’t heard it before.

But that’s not the “big word” I want to think about today. The word I want to think about is “recidivism”. The word means the tendency of a convicted criminal to reoffend. In other words, the likelihood of a person convicted of a crime to be released from punishment but not changing the illegal behavior that got them punished in the first place. Obviously, if society determines that doing something is so bad that the person needs to be removed from the rest of society for a period of time, the hope is that the person will see the error of his or her ways and not do that when they are released.

Unfortunately, the reality is that a significant percentage of criminals don’t learn their lessons and quickly return to their illegal behavior after being released.  In fact, it happens enough that we created the word “recidivism” and track it statistically.

This brings me to a message I heard a couple of days ago.  It was on the book of Ephesians. The speaker explained that the first part of God’s word given through Paul talks about grace through faith.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” - Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV

He then went on to explain that the next part was instructions on how to live our lives now that we are saved.

“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” - Ephesians 4:17-20, 31-32 ESV

While I knew his message was right and proper and that I needed to make it a part of my very being, I couldn’t help but think about the concept of recidivism. As sinners, we have been forgiven of our sins by the grace of God but, at least for me, I know that I will struggle, and not by myself but with the help of God, to overcome my sinful nature. I’ve heard the term faith walk and Paul talking about running the race.

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” - 2 Timothy 4:7 ESV

When I think about a walk, my mental imagine is a leisurely stroll.  When I think about a race, my mental image is being in battle against your competition striving to reach the prize. Of the two, I’ve always been more comfortable with the concept of a race or the good fight because I don’t think avoiding my sinful nature will be easy (and I pray for lots of help because I’ll need it).

I think it is important to keep reminding ourselves of both law (what we should or shouldn’t be doing) and grace (that God has saved us through faith and not because we deserve it). Like many things, we can’t focus on one more than the other. If we focus on trying to only do what is right, we may get discouraged when we fail (it is likely we all will and I’m sure I will) and give up. If we focus too much on God’s grace, we may stop trying to improve our life and push the Holy Spirit away.

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” - Matthew 7:13-14 ESV