Sin: A Reason for Faith

Today’s Reading:

• Psalms 47-49; 84-85; 87

Faith-Stretching Verse(s):

• You forgave the guilt of your people—yes, you covered all their sins. - Psalm 85:2, NLT

Thoughts:
Sin is a universal experience.

One reason that I am thankful to Jesus is that I trust Him when He says that He offers forgiveness for all my sins. And part of the reason that I trust Him for forgiveness is… well… I guess it’s that I realize that I’m actually a sinner, and I see sin all around me. In other words, I see such a great need for forgiveness that I believe Jesus when He says that we need it.

I’m going to throw out a challenge here, and it applies regardless of whether you’re a Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim, a Jew, a Buddhist, a member of any other religion… or even not a member of any religion at all! Has anyone ever known a man or woman who never, ever, not once in his or her entire life, even as a child, never, ever, EVER did ANYTHING wrong? Do you know anyone who has never told even a little white lie? Who has never had lewd thoughts? Who has never lost their temper, for even the briefest of moments? Who has never even thought about cheating? Who has never wished something awful would happen to someone else?

Because I haven’t. I have known people—Christians and non-Christians—who are extremely respectable, honorable, self-controlled, gentle, kind, peaceful and all the rest of the best words we have for the best people. But I have never known someone who was morally perfect throughout his or her entire life. Never.

And that’s what the Bible means when it talks about sin. The word “sinner” doesn’t imply that a person behaves like a maniacal, out-of-control criminal. The word “sinner” doesn’t indicate that a man is abusive toward his wife, that a woman always sleeps around, that teenagers are constantly looking for ways to abuse their parents’ trust and land themselves in juvenile court, or that children have watched too much TV and are about to unload 2000 rounds of ammo at their elementary schools.

A “sinner” is the sweetest grandma you’ve ever met, a lady who regrets the one time when she really lost her patience with a telemarketer. A “sinner” is your hard-working, reliable co-worker, a man who constantly volunteers his services to the community, but who secretly feels ashamed for the moment when he allowed himself to pursue his desires a little too far with the attractive female in HR—even though he put a stop to things before they’d gone “all the way.” A sinner is the gentle child who finally got fed up with another kid’s pestering and hit the little fellow in the face with her lunch box.

A “sinner” is me. And you. I’ve never yet met a non-sinner. And that’s the way that Jesus says this world is. He’s right about us. So I trust Him.

And since the same One who is right about sin is the One who died to offer us His forgiveness, I’d say that there’s quite a bit of reason for hope.

For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.