Well, at Least I Don't_________

      I have been having a lot of discussions lately about "levels" of sin.  Which one is more serious than another? Which ones are sins that will 'keep us out of heaven'? Which sins indicate an unsaved condition?  Which loved ones are committing sins that prove they are not going to heaven?  It can be a pretty interesting thing to talk and think about.
      I have heard it said, and I think I have also said it in the past, "Well, at least I don't _________________" (fill in the blank with whatever horrendous sin you can think of).  With that in mind, let's take a quick check on our ideas of which sins are the worst.  Label the following 1-10 with 1 being the least sinful and 10 being the most sinful:

_______ lying  _______  murder ________adultery ________homosexuality _________greed

_______lust  _______gossip ________envy _________stealing ________judgmental/unloving

     Let's see....there are three there that I haven't done and 7 I have, so I think the three I haven't done are the worst.  I'm pretty guilty of envy so that should be the least sinful, I've told a few lies in my time, but nothing too bad so that's a 2....  Am I the only one who thinks like that?  My sins can't be that bad, because I really do love God and He knows I am a good person at heart.  And besides, nobody really gets hurt by my sins.  Really?  I've never hurt anyone else by gossiping about them?  I've never blocked someone else's way to God by being unloving or judgmental? REALLY?
     I have spoken before about David Platt's book 'Radical'.  It has made me do a lot of soul searching about a lot of things.  He talks about severity of sin with a wonderful example.  Most if not all Christians are appalled by slavery.  It is hard for us to understand how people who professed to be Christian could participate in such an activity. Platt points out that these were churchgoers with good intentions, worshiping God every Sunday, reading the Bible religiously, and using the Word to justify treating black men, women, and children as property which they used and abused.  He calls these "blind spots" or areas of our lives that need to be uncovered so we can see correctly and adjust our lives accordingly. If these people in that time had a blind spot in this area, what blind spots do we have as Christians now?  What do we see as 'okay' in our lives that people in later years will be appalled that we have done as believers?
      Platt makes a great case for what he believes is one of our blind spots in today's society.  I will talk about that in the next blog.  In the meantime, I would like you to think about it.  What do we do individually or as a group of believers that seems perfectly justified, but on closer inspection maybe it is sin?  What people are we condemning because of their sin, while accepting something we do as perfectly all right, when in reality it makes God turn His face away? What blind spots do we need to put glasses on?  More next time....

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In Case of Emergency

      Well, as I sit here full of drugs for bronchitis, I'm mellow enough to tackle the last part of James 1:19 regarding anger.  Of all the emotions we experience, this one can be the most damaging to us and those around us.  Anger, combined with the tongue James speaks of later, can destroy relationships, lives, jobs, government entities, even countries.  It is a powerful and vicious tool that is almost always used in the wrong hands.       We all remember the example of Jesus becoming angry at the temple.  Since we know Jesus did not sin, this demonstration was more about righting a wrong than an expression of anger.  We sometimes call this righteous anger.  I fear that we use this example as Christians to justify our anger outbursts.       As I write this I am thinking about the last time I was really angry.  I have been doing much better with this due to the hel...
Read more

When Silence Breaks Your Heart

Image
"How long, Lord, must I call for help but you do not listen?  Or cry out to you, 'Violence!' but you do not save?" Habakkuk 1:3 We've all been there. Prayers that bounce off the wall.  No answers when we cry out day after day, week after week, month after month.  We question the goodness of a God who seems silent when we, desperate for answers and solutions, beg Him with tears, moans, and sometimes anger.  Why????? Often, when we look back, months and sometimes years later, we see what The Plan was.  Sometimes we don't. But when we are actually going through the experience of petitioning our God for our needs and we feel unheard and unloved, it's not easy. If you are familiar with Lysa Terkeurst, she's faced a number of battles recently when she has cried out to God for answers.  She experienced a marriage crisis and breast cancer within the last two years.  But in her new book, "It's Not Supposed to Be This Way", Ly...
Read more

Who Will Pray?

"When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven."         - Nehemiah 1:4 My friend and I are planning a retreat.  There are a lot of things to do to put a retreat together, and as with any project there are a lot of people 'behind the scenes' that contribute to the project.  I met with one of those people this week, and I think I got my "retreat experience" when having that 15 minute conversation. One of the things that happens before the retreat is a lot of prayer.  We have one prayer warrior we count on for a lot of this.  I met with her to give her the names to pray for, people who have registered for the retreat so far.  This lady is 86 years old.  She has not had an easy life.  She has a child to cancer, has watched other children suffer with it, and faced many other difficulties and trials along the way.  Her body does no...
Read more