Perhaps nothing keeps us from experiencing the power of God in our lives more than our failure to recognize the horror of sin. We all know we should avoid sin, but too often we fail to feel the weight of that sin. Everyone sins and so it becomes easy to excuse it. We rationalize we can’t help our sinful nature, and since no one is perfect except Jesus, sinning is inevitable.
To believe such a thing both cheapens and diminishes what Christ accomplished on the cross. His death not only provides forgiveness for our sins, but His resurrection dismantled the schemes and workings of the devil. We are born in sin, but thanks to Jesus’s victory over sin and death, we don’t have to live as slaves to sin.
Our penchant for sinning would fade away if we would only feel the weight of our sin. If every time we sinned, we recognized it was because of such behavior that Jesus had to endure betrayal, torture, and death by being nailed to a cross, we would never delight in such sin. And we do delight in our sin, don’t we? We long for it, seek it out, and indulge in it with barely a second thought. Our sins are responsible for the death of Jesus. If there was no sin, Jesus would not have had to die.
I believe neglecting to feel the weight of our sin is at the core of many, if not most, addictions. It doesn’t matter if it’s drugs, alcohol, pornography, or any other vice. If you understood the horror of sin and the hatred God feels towards it, you would quit cold turkey. A true follower of Christ has a healthy fear of the wrath of God. Disappointing God should break our hearts; how much more so engaging in behavior we know He detests and will not tolerate? A pattern of sinfulness is incompatible with being in Christ (1 John 3:2-10). They cannot coexist.
If we love God, we will hate sin (Romans 12:9). Understand that we will never be perfect and will struggle with sin until the day we die. But we don’t have to stay in sin. We can choose to never be okay with it. Every time we sin should drive us immediately to our knees, begging for the forgiveness of God. Any lesser reaction reveals we are not taking sin seriously. We are failing to comprehend how devastating sin is.
Take a moment and feel the weight of your sin. Review your day and recall as many sins as you can, no matter how small you perceive them to be. Picture each one as a nail being driven through the hand of Christ. We put Him on that cross. We drove the nails through His flesh. This is the severity and enormity of our sins. We should not carelessly brush aside any sin. Every sin is an affront to our Holy God. Every sin makes us worthy of His fierce anger. Were it not for His surpassing mercy and the sacrifice of His Son, we would perish in an instant. Such is the weight of our sin. Feel that the next time you face the temptation to sin.