Respectable Sins January 25, 2011
I think we all realize that we have some sort of sin in our lives. For many of us, the question that we must ask ourselves is this: “Why don’t I think my subtle sins are that important? After all, I haven’t done any of the really big sins.”
As Evangelicals, we may know we are sinners, but we don’t think we really sin, at least not all that much. The reason we may think this is because we tend to compare ourselves to other people. There have been and always will be people who commit the “big” sins more than we do. So when we compare ourselves to other people, we can feel pretty good about ourselves.
Scriptures don’t ask us to compare ourselves to others. We need to compare ourselves to a holy God. Matthew 5:48 says, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” When we compare ourselves to a God who is pure, holy and righteous, then we realize that we are wretched sinners.
The solution is understanding the character of God and what God has done for us through the cross (The Gospel). Admitting we are sinners, we can repent, recognizing that Christ has fully paid the penalty for our sin. Our response to him is love and a passion to remove the very thing that sent Christ to the cross. So living for Christ is more than just focusing on the “good stuff” of the Christian life. It takes the painful surgeon’s razor to remove the cancerous infection of sin, even the “respectable” sins.
(Respectable Sins is a series covered in the Adult Equipping Class Sunday mornings at 9:45 based on the book by Jerry Bridges, Respectable Sins)