For All Have Sinned
I am currently going along with This is the Gospel study on She Reads Truth and I am just loving it, especially after spending the last few nights with Toby watching The Bible series. Having paired my reading of the Gospel with a visual aid gives me fresh new meaning, which is important since I have been hearing about the Gospel basically my whole life.
Growing up in the church, I was very judgmental and looked down on those who were (in my mind) clear sinners: those who had sex outside of marriage, murderers, thieves, etc. (although later on, I became totally relaxed, numb, and tolerated most of these things). So for the longest time, I thought I was okay with God because I did none of those sins. I followed the Ten Commandments. I was a good person. But the Bible explains sin as something so much more than physical and outward disobedience. It took me to probably a couple of years ago to learn about that.
Sin, translated in Greek to be hamartia, is literally translated as "to miss the mark," which means that, because of sin, we fall short of keeping up with God's standard. I know a lot of us Christians may have thought or are thinking, "surely that's not me! I don't steal, kill, commit adultery, and all of those sins." True. There's a 99% chance we don't. But I love what the commentary in my Bible says:
"Sin is often identified as deeds, such as stealing, murder, adultery, or lying... However, a more fundamental attitude deep within the human heart underlies all 'sins' and is expressed as 'I know better than God in this matter.' ... God has not given us His Word so we can make a reasoned evaluation of His judgment and decide whether or not we want to obey. He has given us His Word because that Word is truth and life, and we are to obey it without question and with unhesitating confidence. To follow our own judgments in disobedience of God's Word is to put self in place of God (Prov. 3:5,7; 14:12), no matter how innocent or noble the deed may seem."
Ouch. That "I know better than God in this manner" cut me deep. I may not have ever said that aloud or thought it, but subconsciously, I have believed it and my actions have proved it. Sin is so much better greater than disobeying the Ten Commandments and the Law. Sin is disobeying God. Period. If I really wanted to move to Texas, but God wants me to stay in Atlanta, yet I choose to go to Texas anyway, that's sin. Moving to another state in of itself isn't sin, but my disobedience is the sin. I want to donate to this charity, but God has told me to donate to that charity. If I disobey God and choose the charity I want, even though my giving is a noble act, it's still sin because I thought I knew better than God and disobeyed.
So let's remember that sin is sin is sin. Whether I am committing adultery or running away from what God is telling me to do, like in the story or Jonah, or I'm refusing to trust in God by worrying, I am sinning. And our sins lead to death (Romans 6:23). BUT we have someone who conquered sin and conquered death on the behalf of us all. Through Him we are saved. His name is Jesus Christ, and He promised us that if we believe in Him, we will have eternal life! We all fall short of His glory, but we all stand blameless in His blood!