The Man from S.I.N.

Every day of our lives we make choices. Most are routine but can have some interesting results. Should I tie my shoes? Not doing so could be painful when you try to move around. Should I wear the blue shirt or the white shirt? Disaster awaits the white shirt if you're having chili dogs for lunch. Choices increase in seriousness as you apply them to goals or responsibilities in life. They become critical in the light of how we deal with people because they then impact other lives.

We can do good, or we can do bad. We can do good just by not doing bad. The bad choices built up over our lives give us soiled independent natures (S.I.N.). Sin is bad. It causes us to move backward in our life's journey. Sin is commonly understood to be breaking God's law, but in reality it is breaking God's heart. It makes us unruly children, and unruly children are unwilling to learn.

Sin has been sensationalized, even by those who have allegedly come out of it. "Let me tell you [in detail] the bad things I was mixed up in," says the celebrity, born-again believer. Sin can have dramatic effect if it is used to embarass one who is trying to do good. It says, "I am in control. Nobody can tell me what to do. Isn't it fun to be a little naughty sometime?" In more subtle ways --- and without an audience --- it speaks to you as judgmental behavior, disguised as the voice of reason.

In the final analysis we really only have one choice. To step away from the bad, and step toward the good. Move from the darkness into the light. We may need to stand still for a moment to get our bearings, but then we must step out. We cannot remain neutral. The New Testament writer James says, "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins."

Condemnation is a strong term, used by fiery preachers to frighten us into submission. In reality God has plenty of time and an abundance of forgiveness with which to discipline and restore his wayward children. Does this mean that we can have "sinful fun" like the "decadent chocolate" ads, and do what we want because we can always "clean up our act" later? Of course not. God knows that our actions always have consequences. He's well aware that our sinful behavior is not real pleasure and, like the serpent, turns to bite us, bringing sadness, hopelessness or misery in the end.

Our eyes reveal to us where we are going. God's Spirit whispers where we should be going. Repentance is that changing of direction, the leaving of that which hinders, and following that which strengthens. Because we are his children, this process is ongoing in everyone. We don't always see it because we don't see people as he sees them. Our journey, however, will bring us to the point where we can have ears to hear, and eyes to behold the glory of his work within his creation. The completion of all things is at hand.
STEVE