small sin, small God

My greatest struggle is I think I'm an ok person. I mean, I don't abuse alcohol, I don't cheat on my husband, I pay my taxes. But this is the essence of our carnality. We are blind to our own flaws; blind to our condition.

Blind to our sin.

I told my 5 senior girls that come to my Bible study on Wednesday that we have a problem with the way we view our sin. We don't wake up in the morning saying, "God, I know I'm naturally a hater of your word, a rebel to your law and I'm filled with the desire to be better than You. Help me see my sin in light of Your holiness."

I don't wake up saying that cause let's be honest, that's hard to admit. We like ourselves. Even if you're struggling with something about appearance or physical ability, at the core of you, you believe you are an ok person who deserves to be loved.

It is impossible to love God and love sin. An acute awareness of our natural sinful state is key to understanding who we are. God made us to be in fellowship with Him. We chose to break that fellowship in the garden. Now,in order to be in fellowship with God, we must enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ who lived the perfect life we were always meant to live. We must remember that we didn't live the perfect life- indeed we cannot! But Jesus did. He never sinned. He never once thought an impure thought about a woman. He never once got impatient waiting in line at the register. He never struggled with jealousy and treated people unfairly because of it. He was perfect. And because He was perfect- we can take a breathe and remember that we don't have to be.

So where do we go from there? Christ, our advocate, lived, died and rose to cover a multitude of sins so that we might gain access to God (Romans 5:1) Because, you see, without Christ, we cannot pray to God and know He hears us. (1 Jn 5:13-15) The Jews don't acknowledge Christ as Lord & Savior and therefore God does not hear their prayers. That's a sobering thing. We, who have trusted Christ as our advocate, can have confidence that our prayers our heard, and whatever is asked according to His will, He gives us! {side-note: it's probably not in God's will to give you a red Ferrari or a $1000 gift-card to your favorite store- you get the point}

So what is sin?

According to John Piper, "What makes sin sin is not first that it hurts people, but that it blasphemes God. This is the ultimate evil and the ultimate outrage in the universe.

The glory of God is not honored.
The holiness of God is not reverenced.
The greatness of God is not admired.
The power of God is not praised.
The truth of God is not sought.
The wisdom of God is not esteemed.
The beauty of God is not treasured.
The goodness of God is not savored.
The faithfulness of God is not trusted.
The promises of God are not relied upon.
The commandments of God are not obeyed.
The justice of God is not respected.
The wrath of God is not feared.
The grace of God is not cherished.
The presence of God is not prized.
The person of God is not loved."

How's that for a definition? It's only when we see our sin in light of God's holiness that we truly grasp how desperate our condition is. Year after year I have seen how God has made me more aware of my sinful heart and more aware of His perfect tract record which covers me. I become more and more thankful for God's grace in my life and the forgiveness of sin: past, present and future. He is a gracious God and I am not deserving of His mercy. I pray I can preach this back to myself for the rest of my life because ohhhh how easy it is to think we are "ok".