Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me."
John 14:23-24
Sin is an offense against God. Any time we disobey Him, disregard His Word, or violate His righteous requirements we sin. No matter how big or how small the infraction, sin is always an attack on God. It is always an offense and is tantamount to treason. It pulls God down off the throne in our hearts and sets us up in His place. Sin is like spitting in God's face. This is why sin separates us from God and incurs His wrath.
As Christians we understand this, yet there are times we still sin. To show how our sin springs from a lack of love as the verses above suggest, allow me to divide all sin into two broad categories: unintentional and intentional sin.
Unintentional sin occurs on accident. It happens when we mess up or make a mistake. For example, a person sins unintentionally when they lose their temper or when they accidentally curse or when they forget to keep a promise. These sins don't result from a choice of the will but from a defect in character. Yet, they are sin still. Unintentional sins are still dishonoring to God. They are still an offense to His perfect nature. And they spring from a deficiency of love. The more we love Christ, the more attentive we will be to His teaching and to our character. The more we love Him, the more careful we will be to root unintentional sins out of our lives. The Christian who continues to struggle against these sins loves Christ too little.
Intentional sin is different; it happens on purpose. A Christian sins intentionally when they know what they ought to do, they know what Jesus has commanded they do, they know that disobedience will grieve their Lord and separate them from Him and they simply do not care. They consciously choose to sin against God anyway. It's unthinkable that a Christian could do such a thing, but sadly we do. And the only explanation is that in those moments we are choosing sin over Jesus. When we sin intentionally, we acknowledge that we love our sin more than we love Jesus. Satan will try to make you believe otherwise, but this in an inescapable truth of the Christian life.
If you are choosing sin over Christ, then you do not love Him enough. If you continue to fall into sin unintentionally then you do not yet love Him enough. None of us love Christ enough. Until the day I die it will be appropriate for me to pray, "Lord, help me to love you more." Join me in praying that prayer today. And more than that join me in living it out. Love God more than you love your sin today
No comments:
Post a Comment