My sin isn’t that bad

Does anybody believe in sin anymore? In our postmodern world we have struck down moral absolutes as prohibitive and judgmental in our pursuit of whatever feels good. It’s like removing the guard rails from the side of the highway will remove the danger that lies on the other side of those guardrails.

Sin in its purest form is simply our selfish rebellion against God. Sin is when we decide we can be a better god then God can be and so we take his place. Sin, in essence, is giving God the middle finger and telling him that his rules do not apply to us and that we are fine without him. We then live our life as if there is no consequence to that action.

There is a much truth in this statement concerning sin; “sin costs you more than you want to pay, it’ll keep you longer than you want to stay, and it will take you further than you want to go.” Sin has its own lifecycle and set of consequences that are out of our control. We may think “I’ll just do this and get forgiven later” but the reality may be a lot more complicated than that. Just ask King David after his little foray with Bathsheba. The devil only tells you about the pleasures of sin, he will never tell you about the end of sin.

There is a disturbing verse in James that followers of Jesus should heed concerning sin; “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin (4:17)”. Sure, adultery is a sin, but if you know you should be going to church and you don’t that is a sin too. If you know you should be giving and you don’t that is a sin. If you know that you should be serving and you don’t that is a sin. If you know you should be forgiving and you don’t that is a sin. The root of that sin is the same as all other sin; you know better than God and you’re a better god than God is! What’s deceptive is that I meet people who sin like this all the time who believe that they are spiritual, even more spiritual than most! It is still sin with its own lifecycle and its own consequences; some that are immediately experienced and some that are subtle and unseen.

All sin is ugly and must be dealt with by nailing it to the cross immediately. It must be dragged out of its ugly where it is protected by our rationalizations and excuses and called for what it is - putrid, gross, God dishonoring sin. We must call sin and see sin the same way that God does.