Tuesday 3rd February - What about Sin?

DAILY BYTE

So what kind of truth and freedom does Jesus bring us? Well, the area I would like to particularly highlight today is that of sin. Throughout the church’s history, sin and the way we have chosen to deal with it has left many in darkness, quite literally ‘gnashing’ their teeth!

To borrow a thought from C.S. Lewis, there are two equal and opposite errors when it comes to sin. The one is to believe in sin too much (we allow it to have far too much power over us), and the second is to not believe that we have any sin at all. To lie to ourselves that we have no sin is incredibly dangerous because as St Augustine once said: ‘My sin was all the more incurable because I did not think I was a sinner.’

Not only is it dangerous to us personally, but it can also make us treat others with a distinct lack of compassion for their weaknesses. When we get all self-righteous in this manner, Christians have often used sin as an excuse to exclude people or to push them out from their churches.

This is in exact contrast to how Jesus treated sinners. Jesus seemed to go out of his way to reach out and include people like prostitutes and tax-collectors and other ‘sinners’. Why? Well, perhaps because Jesus realised that people could not be set free from a distance; that they needed to be loved and believed in before they would even be open to the idea of being set free.

So, sometimes it is our reaction to people’s sin, rather than the sin itself, which keeps them in bondage. Instead of pushing them away because their sin offends us, we should humbly embrace ‘sinners’. Instead of harshly judging and condemning them, we should speak God’s words of love to them. None of us should ever forget that in fact we are ALL sinners, who have fallen short of God’s glory – see Romans 3.23.

So sin can enslave and bring us into darkness; not only the sinful action itself, but also when we treat our fellow human beings with contempt or disdain for their weakness. The Bible makes it clear that we all have our weaknesses – ‘If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us,’ (1 John 1. 8). When we accept that truth, we should then be able to humbly accept each other as equals realising that we are ALL IN NEED of God’s grace and loving forgiveness.

Do you struggle to accept where you may be in the wrong? Do you struggle to own up to your mistakes? Do you treat other people’s weaknesses less than graciously? Spend time in prayer, asking God to open your eyes and change your heart on this matter.

PRAY AS YOU GO

O God, help us to not avoid the lie that we have no weaknesses. Help us to be humbly and graciously compassionate both to ourselves and to others. Amen.

FOCUS VERSE

John 8: 31-34 (The Message)

Then Jesus turned to the Jews who had claimed to believe in him. "If you stick with this, living out what I tell you, you are my disciples for sure. Then you will experience for yourselves the truth, and the truth will free you." Surprised, they said, "But we're descendants of Abraham. We've never been slaves to anyone. How can you say, 'The truth will free you'?" Jesus said, "I tell you most solemnly that anyone who chooses a life of sin is trapped in a dead-end life and is, in fact, a slave.