THEREFORE, TO ONE WHO KNOWS THE RIGHT THING TO DO AND DOES NOT DO IT, TO HIM IT IS SIN.
James 4:17
Chapter 1
For all of its ugliness, sin is one of the most notable paths to heaven.
You need to commit a sin before you can own up to the sin. And you need to recognize sin before you can turn away from it.
Sin runs so counter to God that it’s difficult to view it as a route to heaven. Each of our sins at first puts us in opposition to heaven. It would be like traveling in a car from Detroit and head to Philadelphia to reach San Diego.
But you need to look at the full path we lead and the experiences along the way to see how they shape us in the end. Many chapters will deal with the crisis of sin – choices we make with gambling addictions, alcohol abuse, pornography and others.
Each is horrific, but the journeys can lead to personal accountability and ultimately to God’s mercy available through Jesus’ sacrifice.
Just the notion of sin – any sin – becomes a path to heaven because the word SIN centers us on God. If we can stop – even for a few moments – and contemplate how sin relates to God, our pause becomes a path. You’ll find that concept in other chapters as well. A mere topic and the debate can be critical to the formation of our ultimate desire to be in heaven with God.
For this chapter, I’ve compiled a list of frequently cited sins. Be bold. Circle the ones that apply to you. At a minimum, start writing them down on a separate sheet of paper no one else can see. Or use a pencil and place faint dots in this book that can be erased. It’s an essential exercise if this chapter is going to mean much to you.
Sin is the first chapter because it’s primarily what keeps us out of heaven. Our understanding of sin and surrender (covered in the second chapter) together can poise us for that defining moment when we set aside our questions, hate our sins, and replace our self-rule with a love of Jesus and what He accomplished for us.
It doesn’t mean you won’t become an alcoholic or try to commit suicide. Your life will change. I’m living proof. Despite my irritability and worries, I have a peace about who I am in Christ. I’m not nervous about where I’m going when I die. To be honest, sometimes I want it to be quick – a tragic car wreck. Other days, I hope it’s a disease so I have time to talk with family, friends, and strangers about what lies ahead.
Many people don’t realize two things about sin:
1. Sin Separates Us from God.
2. We Don’t Sense the Frequency of Sin.
Sin Separates Us From God
God detests sin. It shouldn’t be too hard to realize that sin isn’t welcome in God’s home. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). It just doesn’t make sense to install white carpet, play in the mud, and then walk all over the carpet. God’s big on purity; sin doesn’t measure up.
When Adam and Eve walked the earth (assuming you believe some couple had to be the first), they were in communion with God. Their disobedience created a gulf between man and God.
We’re not good enough to close that gap by dying for our own sins – God wanted a perfect sacrifice. He arranged for Jesus to walk among us and for Him to bear our sins. His cross essentially became a bridge to heaven and God. Our relationship with Jesus is so crucial because it’s through Him that we get to God in the first place. True believers have an ongoing relationship with Jesus. He means the world to them. It’s incomprehensible how you could discover heaven and discard Jesus.
The Bible never says Jesus died for all sins and we’re all going to be fine. I didn’t make the rules, God did. He can send us to hell for a single sin. He prefers that we get to know Him through His son so we can be declared righteous on account of Jesus. “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). In other words, salvation comes through Jesus’ sacrifice and our relationship with Him. He didn’t do a humble act and we’re home free. Our response to Him isn’t supposed to be just some form of gratitude as in “I’m sure glad you did that Jesus.” We’re invited to believe in Jesus, not merely believe He was crucified. Belief involves relationship.
God will judge you one day. Before He does, He will know how much or how little Jesus means to you in your daily life.
We Don’t Sense the Frequency of Sin
Let’s face it: we minimize sin. We don’t seem to realize when we sin. When we do, it usually doesn’t bother us too much. I say “usually” on purpose because clearly some sins burrow into our hearts. We feel terrible about what we’ve said or done. Eventually, though, sins become such a part of who we are that they no longer even seem like sins.
What’s sin? I think it’s anything we do (or fail to do) apart from God’s will for our life or “… whatever is not from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23).
We don’t even realize we’re sinning – or at least the impact of our sin. We’re told in the Bible that satan “has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4).
Look at some of the words: bitterness, disrespectfulness, gossip, impatience, irritability, criticalness, resentment, self-reliance, stinginess, etc.
If you take stock of today or yesterday, imagine how many times you sinned. Omission is the toughest one to detect. It’s all about the things God wanted us to say and do. What did He have in mind for you? Who were you supposed to call or write to in the last week? Who did the Lord want you to include in a prayer? How were you expected to lend a hand? Who didn’t you forgive?
It’s pretty tough for us to own up to our sins, including omission, if we don’t have a relationship with Jesus through which we’re encouraged to confront the influence of sins that ravage our souls.
Before we’re Christians, the Holy Spirit keeps getting our attention so we’ll recognize our sins and seek mercy through Jesus’ cross. After we become Christians, the Holy Spirit helps us grow in our faith and makes us aware of sins so we can confess them and turn from them.
Keep in mind that each sin by a Christian doesn’t send him farther and farther from heaven just as each sin of a non-Christian doesn’t thrust him deeper and deeper into hell.
If you can see why sin has no place in heaven and that you do sin (you have plenty of examples), you’re one step from heaven. The next step is tougher. It’s called surrender.
Additional Perspectives
Whatever Is Not Faith Is Sin
www.biblestudyguide.org/articles/not-faith-sin.htm
What Is Sin? The Big Question
www.allaboutgod.com/what-is-sin.htm