Sin is much like the bone disease Osteoporosis. We don't even notice its beginning. In fact sin, like the bone disease is so deceptive that it is possible to be at the point of spiritual decay before we come to the realization that we have sinned!
The problem today is that even those in the church are not calling sin 'sin'. It is now being called 'psychologically disturbed' or 'an emotional problem'. We are sent to a psychiatrist - which may be helpful - but we fail to deal with the problem as a spiritual condition.
The blame is laid on someone else, usually our mother, since she is the one most responsible for our emotional development.
If we lay the blame for our condition at the feet of our mother, have we not set up a "root of bitterness" (Heb.12:15) in our heart? Are we not responsible at some point to love and forgive her? Do we not realize that, although she may have made many errors in our upbringing, she is still the one who loves us most? Even a mother who appears to reject her child has a special concern for that dear baby who was formed within her own body.
If we shift the blame for our present upset on another, we have not dealt with our own guilt. This is one way in which sin can erode our spiritual life. The only way we can become free from guilt is to renew our relationship with Jesus, be willing to forgive the one who has hurt us and ask forgiveness for our anger against them. We must forgive as Jesus did (Luke 23:34).
Only the blood of Jesus washes away our stains of guilt. This is why Jesus died - that you and I might be set free from our sin and guilt.
Because I am a little older than the average person today, I look back to my younger years and see the degenerative moral erosion in our society. When King Edward VIII abdicated the throne of England in order to marry the divorced Mrs. Simpson, the media supported his abdication as a necesary move to keep the monarchy above reproach. Today the media would probably consider the human rights of the couple involved rather than upholding the monarchy as a God-given political system to be kept free of sin.
Many such examples could be quoted as to how our moral fibre has been weakened. We do not realize that once we fail to oppose what is obviously not Christian we are, in essence, condoning it. We scream human rights, forgetting that while Jesus was in favour of fair judgment, He also considered the rights of the one who had been hurt.
Jesus called the breaking of God's laws "sin". He called sex outside of marriage "adultery" or "fornication." We call it "sexually active." He told the woman caught in adultery to "go and sin no more" (John 8:11). He had the love to forgive, but He expected the sin to end.
Sin begins in our minds. A thought, if nourished, becomes our words and our actions. Only a tiny little bit at first, a little more and a little more, until a full-blown act is committed, often a sexual sin.
Osteoporosis cannot be identified until it is well developed; sin is the same. However, if we are trying to live a Christian life, it is possible to spot our own evil thoughts before any damage is done as Jesus did when tempted to commit acts contrary to God's laws (Matt.4:1-11). He rebuked Satan; we can rebuke him too by saying "In the Name of Jesus I rebuke you Satan."
Let us call sin by its real name and learn to deal with it!
© 1999, Doreen Palmer