What exactly is sin? The term "sin" makes most people cringe. They picture a fire and brimstone preacher, dressed in black, holding his Bible above his head, face contorted in an angry scowl, yelling at a crowd "you're all sinners and you must repent!" I've seen these guys outside of rock concerts and music festivals. Not the best of approaches :-)
No one wants to think of themselves as a "sinner". Many joke about it, smiling and saying, "I'm such a sinner!" That's because we are uncomfortable with the reality of sin. We've become accustomed to hiding our faults, our flaws, our scars and our blemishes. We are hard-pressed to admit our sin to anyone in any way. We hope that no one ever blows our cover.
Most use the word "sin" incorrectly because they don't really know what it means to sin.
So, let's discuss...
Sin means to "miss the mark". Every thought or action (or lack of action) that misses a perfect bull's-eye is sin. But here's the key: At whose target are we shooting? THAT'S the right question! God created the target. This is His game. Any other target we're shooting for is false, a made-up target that does not count for anything except maybe to make us feel better about ourselves.
But so what? What if we don't hit the bullseye every time? Why is this such a big deal? Why can't people just be imperfect? Why can't you just let it go? Well, we can let it go. But God can't.
It matters because this life is secondary at best. We look around in this life to see what the difference would be if we were to sin or not sin, and we don't see a huge difference. "Serious sinners" seem to get away with murder, so to speak. So my sins "aren't that big of a deal in comparison", we think. But if that's how we think, we're missing the point.
The goal... the endgame... is eternity.
Where will I spend the time after time ends? We all know fundamentally that we are more than this body we travel around in. We are a soul. And that soul will live on past the breakdown of our earthly body. How we hit the mark on the target provided by God determines if we will spend eternity with Him (heaven) or eternity away from Him (hell).
Here's the rub. No one - I mean no one - hits the mark perfectly every time. That means that every one of us is a sinner. Everyone has missed the mark. That leaves us hopeless without someone to save us. Seems unfair doesn't it? How could we ever even come close to spending eternity with Him? Now you're getting the point. We can't. We need to be saved from are hopeless inevitability.
Enter God's love and grace.
For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whoever would believe in Him would not only not perish but have everlasting life. For Christ did not come to condemn but to save the world.
John 3:16-17
Why do we all need to be saved? Because we all miss the mark. And if we miss the mark, even once, we are not perfectly holy. And if we are not perfectly holy, we cannot be near God.
God knows this, and so He made a way...
This, my friends, is Amazing Grace. This is unfailing Love. That He would take my place. That He would bear my cross. He laid down his life, that I would be set free.
Jesus I thank you for all that you've done for me.
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