Sin is like a barometer that tells me
how my relationship with God is going. When my relationship is alive
and well, sin rarely is found. When my relationship is faltering and
sick, sin pokes up its ugly head, and I start to sink in a sea of
iniquity. But the problem isn’t the sin; it’s only a symptom. The real
problem is that my relationship with God isn’t what it should be. I am
not loving God with all my heart, mind, and strength.
If my relationship with God is right, sin will not be a major problem.
When my relationship is strong, the power of God’s love rolls through my
life and gives me the strength to be all that I can be without being
burdened by sin.
Jesus said I should love God with all my heart, all my mind, and all my
strength. When I love God with everything that’s in me, I no longer
have a problem with sin. I have taken the cure, and sin no longer
dominates my life. If I am lost in a maze of sin, the only escape is to
open my heart to God’s love. God’s love is still the most powerful
force in the universe, and it will blow the maze of sin to smithereens
when my intellect, emotions, and will are aligned with his love.
Sin is a slippery stone and getting a handle on it is difficult.
It's easier to talk about that it is to deal with.
Two of the biggest problems with sin center on the fact that some people
deny it exists, and others treat it like it's the disease rather than a
symptom of the disease.
You live in a moral universe that takes a position on the choices you
make. When you break the laws governing the moral universe, you
commit sin. You would have to be blind, deaf, and stupid to not
figure out that sin exists, is out of control, and is destroying the
lives of millions of people.
Some people want to tell you there is no such thing as sin. That
is as intelligent as saying you don't have a heart attack when you have
crushing chest pain, you are short of breath with beads of sweat on your
forehead, and your EKG is seriously abnormal. It doesn't matter
how much you protest, you are still having a heart attack, and if you
don't do anything to treat it, you will probably die.
If you don't think there is sin in the world, you need to wake up and
face reality.
The second trap is treating sin as the disease rather than a symptom of
an underlying disease. This is the recipe for frustration and
failure. These people attack the mountain of sin that forms the
landscape of their life. They try every trick in the book to stop
sinning, but without success.
They believe that if they can just get rid of the sin, they will be ok.
But no matter how hard they try to clean up their life, they always
fail. They are trying to cure the disease by making the symptoms
go away. They are doing things backwards, and it will not work.
Even if they clean up their life and commit fewer sins, they are only
suppressing the symptoms of an underlying fatal affliction. What
they are doing is dangerous and will not solve their problem. Sin
is a symptom of an underlying problem, and it will not go away until you
solve the problem that causes it.
If you want to break free from the maze of sin, you must take the cure.
The only cure is to be born spiritually and have a relationship with God
based on love. When that happens, God gives you a new mind and
heart. He gives you an entirely new way of thinking and living.
God's love makes you into a new
person. It knocks the wind out of your sin sails and sets you free.
