Severity of Sin

G’evening all! I just got back from school, so it has been a particularly long day for me, but I hope you all have had great days.

Originally – this morning, in fact – I wanted to share something that had been on my mind throughout the past week: the dangers of compartmentalizing (lol, it sounds so boring as I write it here). But, I got this e-mail from Casting Crowns, which put a strong desire on my heart. It is a music video of the song “Slow Fade.” Please, if you have 5 short minutes, watch it!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=j0aBchNYxIM

This really got me meditating on the severity of sin, and our tendency to view sin so aloofly. When we are in the moment of temptation, we do not properly understand how much God detests sin and how strict the possible ramifications could be. It took a music video like this for me to be reminded of this. I see a man who has the potential to decimate his family because he wants to live in and seek out sin. Check out this verse: “For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil dwells with You. The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity. You destroy those who speak falsehood; The LORD abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit.” (Psalms 5:4-6, NASB).

I think, at least in part, that this is because we tend to define good and evil relativistically; we base it on the cultural standards, and not on God’s standards defined biblically. We see ourselves as “good,” so long as we are better than the secular of this world (whatever that means?). So, as society liberalizes and deteriorates, our morals and values take a plunge as well.

“Oh no, we are still good, though, because we are better than the world, and can still be an example.” LIES! All lies!

God’s standard is His standard. It is immutable and not contingent upon the morality of this world. We are subject to this standard (it was in the fine print of that little contract we signed to save our soul =P), whether we like it or not.

Nonetheless, we need to check our view on sin. Every defiance of God’s standard is considered sin, and it has stark consequences. No evil dwells with Him and He hates all those who do iniquity. We must realize this every time we on sin’s stoop. Remember, sin is punishable by death, we are exempt because we are gracefully redeemed by Christ. How dare we abuse the grace given us!

I felt led to share that, I hope some of you find it convicting and encouraging, I know I did when the Lord placed it on my heart this morning.

MTI