Sin

SIN

                Certain words, like people, get old and tired, having lost their vitality and impact. When they do, maybe they, like people, should be retired from active service. Perhaps a prime candidate for this verbal retirement might be the word “sin”. As long as humans exist, we will never be able to retire the concept of sin because it definitely exists! None of us are perfect; we all sin on occasion. And certainly, sin affects all of us, both when we sin and when others sin.

            “Crime” has a far greater effect on us because it is more visible and often has a more immediate impact. Crime forces us to seek security so that it does not touch us in a painful way. Thus, we install locks maybe several on our doors and stay away from certain areas and types of people. Crime makes us feel apprehensive and suspicious, and most of us take steps to warn others of the dangers. Consider the example of Adam and Eve. “And the LORD commanded the man”, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die’. As man counts days, Adam did not die until 960 years later! During that huge expanse of time, a carnal, living-by-sight human being would have great difficulty making the connection between sin—the cause—and death—the effect.

            Sin does negative things to us and others. If it were positive or even neutral, a loving God would be unconcerned about it. He would not lead us to repentance or demand that we repent of it. He would not command us to overcome it and come out of this world. Satan is at the crux of sin. His name means "Adversary." He is against God and anything godly. In Revelation 9:11, he is called “Abaddon” and “Apollyon”, and both of these names, one Hebrew, the other Greek, mean “Destroyer”. Satan is a destroyer, and the spirit that emanates from him, that drives this world and produces sin, is a destroying spirit. We can broadly say that sin does two bad things simultaneously: It produces negative results and destroys.

                When we understand the terms God inspired to describe sin, we can easily see why sin is so universal. Because the robber, murderer, drunkard, rapist and child-abuser are so obviously evil, we readily agree that they are sinners. In our hearts we consider ourselves to be respectable citizens since we do none of these things. These terms, though, bring us face to face with the reality of sin that it is not always obvious. Sin is not confined to external conduct. Sometimes it is buried within one's heart and very cleverly concealed from all but the most discerning.