Jun 21 2008
the worst thing about sin
I have been doing some reading lately about sin. Sin is not a happy topic for reading, but it continues to be a relevant topic for my life so I read about it occasionally. Much of what I have read has prompted me to reflect that the really troubling thing about sin is that is separates us from God. Even more troubling is that we often compound this by assuming that God is okay with that.
Our sin separates us from God because in sin we leave God’s ways and pursue our own. Sin by definition means leaving the reign of God. Sin pulls us away from God, but is does not pull God away from us. I often hear people say things like, “God cannot bear to look at sin.” I am not sure what that means. Maybe there is some verse that I have forgotten. But whatever it means, it surely does not mean that God cannot bear to look at sinners. In fact Christ came because God was fully able (and steadfastly committed) to look upon sinners with a broken heart and full compassion.
I have been struggling for a metaphor that isn’t disgusting and I have failed so here it is. When my youngest son has accident that it is a problem. That falling short of the mark is a true impediment to what we had planned for the day. Depending on the scale of the accident and whether we are in public or not, it can throw off the whole day. Cleaning everything up can be a lot of work, and that failure creates a gap between what I intended for that day and what actually happens that day. Not long a go we were on our way to do a little shopping that would culminate in a milkshake. Our shopping was interrupted in a major way and the interruption meant that the milkshake run was canceled.
But his mistake did not cause me to reject him. Even when I discovered that he knew he needed to go and lied to me when I asked him. It never occurred to me to reject my child. More to the point, (and now we are getting to my main point) if he had avoided me after the accident because he was ashamed or feared punishment, it would have been worse. He could not handle this situation on his own. He needed his father’s help.
So back to sin. Yes sin is bad. Yes my sin often interrupts the good work that God wanted to do with me for God’s kingdom.
But the worst thing about sin is that it might trick me to stay away from my heavenly father. I might avoid worship or service, because I feel too guilty. I might feel ashamed or dirty and not want to deal with my sin.
If you fall to temptation, satan wins a small victory. If in your shame over having fallen you won’t turn to God fro strength and renewal, then satan has won a terrible victory indeed.
Sin does separate, but God is not okay with that. When my boys were quietly playing while I looked for the perfect plumbing adapter I kept my distance and let them play. But when I saw there was trouble. Precisely as I knew that there would trouble because one of my boys said he didn’t need to go when he did, that was when I ran toward him to care for him. Sin does pull us away from God and because of that God in Jesus was especially interested in drawing close to sinners.
on the walk
-Ethan
i agree so much on your idea of not allowing sin to affect negatively our relationship with God. Sin certainly likes to multiply itself and satan is most happy with those secondary subtle sins, like avoidance.
unlike the accidents of your children, sin is sometimes something we are not fully aware of, to carry your disgusting metaphor on, some sin does not smell as strong as others.
i have found it good practice to pray and ask God for awareness of sin.
and to talk to God about it as you would a doctor. No doctor is going to just allow disease to continue they will help you heal in ways you cannot do on your own.
we are helpless to avoid sin but we have control of whether we allow it to control our worship of God.