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Sin – the wedge that separates man from God. Ever since Adam and Eve went against God’s will there has been a great chasm between God and man. Through Jesus the Christ, God reached out to bridge that gap. And His grace allows us to come into His presence, cleansed by the sacrificial death and resurrection of His Son.

If we walk in the light then we learn to abhor sin. But as humans we all harbor varying degrees of attraction to sin. The big problem is that we also tend to have blind spots. We may say “I don’t smoke and I don’t chew and I don’t date the girls that do.” – but what about less obvious sins? What about that which we allow our minds to dwell on, taking comfort in “well, at least I didn’t DO it!”.  And what about those thoughts and attitudes that do not reflect the mind of Christ?

People in the church tend to focus on a few pet sins and shun with a vengeance folks who commit them. The interesting thing is – many of those sins are not necessarily sins, but those who shun them act as if there is nothing worse in the world. Take bathing, for example. Indoor plumbing for the common man is a relatively new thing. In centuries past it was common for everyone to do their personal hygiene down at the local bath house. But under Roman rule the public baths were often centers for all kinds of sexual activity – outside the bonds of holy matrimony. It wasn’t long before christians quit going to the bath house – and quit bathing all together. They “threw out the baby (bathing) with the bath water (sexual immorality)”. To many minds, bathing was synonymous with immoral conduct.  Therefore, those who were filthy were considered to be very holy.  This trend (building fences around sin, so to speak) continues to this day. Wine is mentioned favorably through out scripture. Drunkenness is mentioned unfavorably throughout scripture. Many people today equate wine with drunkenness. They can not distinguish between proper and improper use of wine any more than those early Christians could think of building a Christ inspired bath house where folks could get physically clean while maintaining their sexual purity, thus allowing folks to be both physically and morally clean.

Throughout the centuries, dancing was a way of celebrating and even worshiping.  Dances were social affairs in which folks could interact with each other and in which the monotony of life could be broken by a special celebration.  Yet today many can not separate dancing from “dance halls” and prostitution. The stigma of sinful sexual stimulation clings (in their minds) to anything having to do with dancing.  They would no more think of dancing with their wife or before the LORD than they would think of murdering their own mother.

An even more interesting phenomenon occurs when people violate God’s law in order to keep their own. For example, God’s law states that a person should dress modestly. There are people who believe that means a woman can wear only a non-bifurcated garment, preferably one that covers her ankles. Now I, for one, would like to see more long skirts around. There is something special, something comely, about a long, flowing dress or skirt. But to force all women to always wear such a garment limits their freedom – or places them in the position of violating God’s law of modesty. Yet that is what legalists in certain sects do. Where we used to minister in Brazil, the main form of transportation was a cargo truck – a flatbed with a tarp lashed tightly to the load. To reach town one would flag down such a truck and clamber up the side to sit on top. There’s nothing modest about a woman in a skirt climbing up the side of a truck and bouncing down the road on top of a load. But that is what many women did in order to live up to the human law that their religion had foisted on them.  And many men were glad to “give ‘em a hand” to climb up, in the hope of getting a glimpse into private areas.  Because of their man made law they violated God’s law of modesty.  Jesus Himself accused the Pharisees of the same kind of mentality, unfortunately this way of thinking is still with us.

The main problem stems from an external “list based” religious outlook on life.  Folks count themselves and others as “OK” as long as they fill out the proper check list of “Do’s” and “Don’t's” – all of which happen to be quite easy to check on and prove.  In the process, they forget that God looks much deeper.  He can read our heart – and that is what counts.  The fruit that the Holy Spirit produces in our life?  It’s not jacket and tie, long dress and non-smoking/non-drinking – it’s about attitudes and thought patterns – “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” these are things that are hard to quantify for those who look only on the outside, and thus they are overlooked by the religiously legalistic.  Many times over the it has been our lot to observe someone who is outwardly “proper” in their dress, and yet their life reflects anything BUT joy, peace, patience, kindness or self-control, nor yet the other characteristics of God’s Holy fruit.  And in no way is saying so “judging” such people.  Jesus told us, “by their fruit you shall know them”.  To observe the lack of these characteristics is no more judging than to observe that a certain tree produces inedible fruit.  To cut it down and burn it – that is judgment.  And that is God’s place, not ours. In fact, in the parable of the tares we are taught that our duty is to grow and produce fruit, not try to rip out those who’s fruit doesn’t match up.  That will be done in the last day, when the Lord returns for His great Harvest Day.  Those who produce the wrong fruit in their lives will be gathered for punishment.  And those who produce the wheaten fruit God desires will be gathered up for reward.

As we look into our own life we should be, as I like to say, “brutally honest”.  We can not resort to “I did this so I’m OK.” nor yet “I DON’T do thus, so I’m OK”.  We must look into the mirror of God’s Word and see the faults reflected there in.  And this is not to be used to condemn ourselves, it is to be used as a tool to gauge where we need to improve.  Just like you look in the mirror, see your hair out of place and use brush or comb or fingers to straighten it up, not rip it out or destroy yourself because you don’t match up to your idea of what you should look like!  And God’s Spirit prompts us, it directs us and persuades us – if we listen – to be transformed, to renew our minds until we look and act as Jesus the Christ does.  A christian who does not heed the transformational call of God’s Spirit is one who is carnal and immature at best.

As Christ’s disciples we must be wary of satan’s misuse of God’s word.  Many christians live lives of defeat because they don’t match up to their own expectancies and they allow the enemy to dissuade them.  “You’ll never overcome this sin – so why try?” they hear.  “You are unworthy!” “God KNOWS who you are inside – He could never love such a filthy creature!” These lies and more are whispered in the christian’s ear – and too many times they are given more weight than they should have.  God calls us to a life of purity – but His grace pulls us from the mire and sets us on the road time after time as we grow and mature.  Sometimes it is one step forward and two back.  But this only lasts until we learn to get back on our feet and try again, rather than roll around in the muck feeling sorry for ourselves.

It is not for nothing that God calls us His children.  He longs to see each of us feed on the spiritual milk, gradually learning to chew and digest more “grown up” food and then learning to share His spiritual food with others.  Likewise He is thrilled when we learn to crawl and more so as we take our first toddling steps.  When we stumble He isn’t there to kick us for ineptness.  He is there to lift us up, to extend a finger or a hand to steady us as we toddle off again.  And even when we have grown and matured in the faith and in The Way – if we fall He is not there to ridicule us, He is there to dust us off and set us on the road to victory once more.  And often we run better the race for having stumbled and learned humility and grace than if we merely run cautiously through life, wary of trying too hard and perhaps falling short of our expectations.

Religiosity is a trap.  It concentrates on favorite sins, ignoring that which is considered “minor” or of no importance – to the religious mind.  But God calls us to relationship.  His goal is to see us grow in all things into the likeness of Jesus the Christ.  He loves us and extends to us grace and mercy – and calls us to the same attitude amongst ourselves.  So rather than concentrating on our own particular “favorite sins”, why not concentrate on our own inner thoughts and outward actions – allowing the Light of the Gospel to shine forth and bless those around us?