I think we have the habit of not taking sin seriously enough. We all sin every day, but how much does it truly bother us? I was reading in Ezra and observed his reaction to his own sin. It says in Ezra 9:6, he was so embarrassed and ashamed of his sin he couldn’t even lift his eyes to face God. He recognized his sins and the sins of his people were higher than his head and his guilt was as high as the heavens.
When was the last time you considered your sin like this? We are far too casual in response to our own sin. We know Jesus has paid the price for us, so no matter what we do, we’re covered. Somehow this has led us not into deeper repentance, but into casual indifference.
A casual indifference is an attitude we should never have towards sin. We should be actively avoiding sin at all costs. Unless we are intentionally avoiding it, sin will always creep into our lives in insidious ways. A passive defense against sin is no defense at all. While we must do everything we can to avoid sin, we know we have an advocate with God when we do sin (I John 2:1). Jesus has paid the price for all our sins. Still, we must never develop a casual indifference to sin. It should break our hearts every time we live for anything or anyone other than Jesus.
We have the great privilege of spending our lives building the Kingdom of God. We are here for only a short time. The next life is better by far than the one we are currently experiencing, but as long as we are here, we have work to do. Everything we build for the Kingdom in this life will reflect in the next life when all things are restored to the way God intended. Nothing we do for Him is in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58). By the same measure, nothing we do outside of His will is without consequence.
Sin should devastate us. We should never be able to sin and then move on without it having a marked impact on our lives. When we fall short of what God intends for our lives, it should stop us in our tracks and drive us to our knees. Nothing should wound us more than failing to live up to our commitment to Christ. I am not suggesting you browbeat yourself into a state where you are no longer useful for the Kingdom. There is no sense in endlessly punishing or humiliating yourself because you fell into sin or temptation. Rather I am merely advocating for appropriate and sober recognition of how devastating sin is to our lives.
Jesus gave His life to cover all our sins. There was no casual indifference about the walk to His crucifixion. If He understood the weight and seriousness of our sins, then so should we. Sin is never something to be considered in a flippant way. It is never okay and there are no little sins. All sin is offensive to God and therefore should be equally reprehensible to ourselves. Don’t let sin creep into your life and assert itself as not being a big deal. It is a big deal, it will drive a wedge in your relationship with Christ and others, and left unchecked it will kill you. Do not consider sin with casual indifference. Avoid it, attack it, and repent in agony when you fall prey to it. Jesus knows the weight and He will take it from you, but first, we must repent. Give it all to Jesus. He will forgive you. Once forgiven, we should go and strive to not sin any longer (John 8:3-11). We must be intentional in our avoidance of sin. We can not live in casual indifference to it.