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A few weeks ago, my pastor said something that is still milling around in my mind, all these days later. He was relaying a conversation he had with a Christian counselor friend of his. In their discussion, my pastor's friend was lamenting the fact that most people truly do not want to hear or heed godly counsel. Instead, they would rather just discuss ways to make their sin work.
Wow.
In truth, I have been thinking a lot about sin and our view of sin (especially as Christians) for quite some time. I have read a few books on the subject.** I have poured over the Scriptures about the subject. While I have uncovered many answers about sin--what it is, what it does, what we are to do about it, and what God has done about it--I have also come up with many more questions about it. Why do people sin? In particular, why do Christians sin, even if they "know" better? (for I would argue that all sin is truly senseless--for more on that, check out this previous post).
While I do hope to delve into these questions more in-depth, I will save some of that for another blog post. Today, I'd like us to consider just a few things...
First of all, while we as believers love to demonize Satan (pardon the pun), have we considered what makes Satan...Satan? Is it not sin? For after all, Satan was created by God as a beautiful angel of light. Sin (specifically, pride) is what made him a fallen angel and led to him and his cohorts being cast out of heaven (Ezekiel 28). Therefore, ought we not consider SIN to be the worst thing we can encounter, and not Satan himself?
Secondly, do we ever consider how much God hates sin? In fact, the Scriptures tell us God ABHORS both sin (Ps11:5) and the wicked people who sin (this is a far cry from the oft quoted, "God hates sin but loves the sinner"...which is unbiblical and actually attributed to the sayings of Ghandi, a Hindu!). So what exactly does abhor mean? Well, in our English dictionary, it means "to regard with disgust and hatred; detest, hate, loathe, despise, recoil from, shudder at." I don't know about you, but most times I fall WAY short of HATING my own sin. Rather, I am inconvenienced by it, like when I overeat or overspend and, as a result, feel uncomfortable in my clothes or have to forgo buying something later in the month. So too, I am embarrassed by my sin, like when I lose my temper in front of others. But honestly, do I ABHOR it? Hardly.
However, God sees sin for what it is and exhorts us to do all that we can to flee/throw off/put off/confess/repent from sin in all its forms. In fact, Jesus stated in His Sermon on the Mount that if our right eye or right hand causes us to sin, it would be better to gouge it out/cut it off and be spared from the flames of Hell, than to remain intact and be cast into Hell (Matt 5:29-30). Now, I don't know about you, but I think my hands and eyes are pretty essential for my quality of life and living! But that is not how God sees it--He'd rather us go without these seemingly essential body parts if they cause us to sin! THAT is how serious sin is to Him and should be to us.
So, why do we, even as Christians, struggle to hate our sin? Well, in a word, we are deceived by it. That is why it is so critical to pray, like David the Psalmist wrote,
Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting! (Psalm 139:23-24)
For, we do not have a clear understanding of the sin in our hearts, even as believers! We must ask God to reveal these things to us and cry out to Him for guidance and empowerment to turn from sin and seek the truth.
So, dear friend, let us pray and ask God to grant us a genuine abhorrence of our sin, for it is only as we hate our sin that we will ever desire to fight it! And let us not give sin a new name, merely disguising it, by calling it a "bad habit," a "character flaw," a "natural gratification," and the like. But instead, in the words of the English Puritan minister Ralph Venning, let us "call it by its own name and look it in the face" for then we should "find it such an ugly hag as was not fit for the embraces of men, no, not even of devils."
**My current favorite books on the subject are Idols of the Heart by Elyse Fitzpatrick and The Sinfulness of Sin by Ralph Venning
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