Sin

Ewwwww, the “S” word! If you ever want to end a conversation very quickly or are in the middle of hearing a boring or pointless story, you can end it quickly by just randomly screaming ‘SIN!” I guarantee that the other person will squint their eyes, slowly tilt their head, make a reflective sound affect then slowly turn their back and walk away. I can picture it and it makes me laugh, like it should be an episode of The Office or something. In all seriousness though, no one likes to hear this word or even discuss it, it is an immediate turn off. So guys if you show up to a blind date and she isn’t what your into, just start talking about sin and she will make the decision to leave so you won’t have to feel bad…lol. How many people have been burned by this word? Homosexuals, people with tattoos, unmarried parents, people involved in premarital sexual relationships, drug users, the list could get very long here. We treat sin as if it were something God came up with because He was bored, like The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were all sitting around playing poker and one says, “Hey guys, we should make up a list of things that people can’t do, just for kicks and giggles.”

My point is that the sins we so firmly stand against, and very well should, have a deeper meaning behind them. They are sins because they do something to impede abundant life, they kill off the relationship with God, and make life just harder. A homosexual will admit that choosing that lifestyle makes it harder than anything else, so will a person having sex before marriage, or getting plastered on the weekends. The word repent is thrown around too much I think. The first thing a person needs to hear may not be repent, even though at some point they will face it. How can someone repent of something if they do not have anything to turn back to? Why would a drug user who loves the affects that heroin has as it slowly fills his veins or a young girl who thinks her boyfriend loves her and so has sex with him or someone who lives for their job and the idea of power and riches turn away from that if they see no problem with it? People need sin explained. We can’t just go to someone and tell them they are a sinner and because of that they need Christ all the time, or at least with my generation, that has been isolated by this very thing. I never understood why God would tell me not to have sex before I got married while I was running around like a dog in heat in Jacksonville before I started following Him. I just thought it was some rule I had to obey. I didn’t understand why it was a sin though. I started researching all these things I knew I was not supposed to do once I started following Jesus though. I started understanding that sex before marriage creates a ton of things that make life harder/worse like the fear of STD’s, a baby, emotional trauma caused by a one night stand, feeling used, feeling like all you are worth is in your bra and panties or boxer shorts, and ultimately not being able to be more intimate with that person beyond the point you were (mentally) when you had sex. Once I understood it did all these things, I was so excited to learn and know that God said this was a sin because He knew it would hurt us and didn’t want us to go through life in constant pain. I had a friend who had a miscarriage. She got pregnant because she was having premarital sex. She came across some Christians who told her that that was a consequence of her sin and she should repent of sex before marriage. When she told me that my eyes filled with tears (they are actually tearing up even now) and I became filled with righteous anger because she didn’t need that! She needed someone to tell her they are mourning with her and that they are so sorry she is having to go through this pain.

Think about all the sins you can, make a list, and then do some research, some thinking of your own, some praying, and try to find why God would say this is a sin. When we find these reasons, we see that sin is not this crazy idea God had just to hold us back or make us follow a rule list like a 5 year old in kindergarten. Repentance from sin is an obvious Biblical principle and necessary for one to follow Christ, John says that once we are children of God we will not continue to willingly act from our flesh (1 John). When people start seeing that the life that Jesus wants us to live is not because he is some power hungry dictator, but is actually a better way to live, a more liberating life, then you see change, then the word sin is actually beautiful instead of a taboo. Like my friend I spoke about with the miscarriage, we too often use this as an advantage on the God grading scale, as if we were ahead of the curve. We use this to convict people. Are we in the role to convict people? Jesus said He didn’t come to condemn but save, so if we are condemning or convicting, we are trying to act as the Spirit and thus should really question ourselves. Before you take the next sinner down the “Romans Road” please consider that maybe just maybe the reason they run from freaks carrying crosses and telling large crowds of people to repent on a Saturday night, is because they have never been really explained why the sin they are involved in is bad for them and why Jesus doesn’t want them to have to go through it. You dig?

May you love others enough to explain why Jesus doesn’t want them to live a life of sin rather than tell them they just need to stop. May you take time to research the sins that you like to speak on or that you see affecting others in your city or neighborhood so you can explain to them why the God of Heaven wants better for them. May you see that God telling us not to sin is because He knows it will kill us and he wants us to LIVE!