What is sin?

A post by Pastor Kathy.

A question that I like to ask when we talk about sin, sinners, forgiveness of sin is a very basic one. What is sin? When I ask the questions, I get a variety of answers. "Sin is doing wrong." "Doing things we shouldn't do." "Breaking the law." "Not doing the things we're supposed to do." Take a minute and think about your own answer to the question. I determined a long time ago, that for me, the best (and simplest) definition of sin is anything that breaks relationship - my relationship with God or my relationship with other human beings. Think about it. We can make lists of what are sins and what are not sins. We can divided the lists into sins of commission (things we do that we shouldn't do) and sins of omission (the things we fail to do that we should do). I challenge you to find one item on your list of sins (of omission or commission) that does not effect your relationship with either God or another human being. For example, we all agree that stealing is a sin. Tell me how you can steal anything without having that effect your relationship with the person from with whom you stole. Furthermore, if you have done something (in this example, stealing) that you believe God says is a sin, will it not effect your relationship with God?

One of the most difficult challenges human beings face is maintaining healthy relationships with those in our lives, whether they are our spouses, our family, our friends, co-workers, our church community, or our God. We have a God who has always reached out to us with love to rebuild the relationship when we break it... again and again. He has never waited for us to see the error of our ways or to try to win his love and forgiveness. Instead, he is always there first. As Paul wrote in the letter to the Romans, "...while we are still sinners Christ dies for us." (Romans 5:8, NRSV)

Yesterday, Chris's message was about forgiveness, reminding us that forgiveness and forgetting the sin are connected. He talked about forgiving and forgetting offenses. I would like to remind us the sins and offences are not always the same thing. Some times we take offense at what another person says to us, but we may be the one who is sinning! If a brother or sister rebukes me, I am often quick to be offended by their words; it takes reflection for me to recognize that the rebuke was warranted. I do not believe that I am the only one who can treat the person who rebuked me as the one who offended although I was the one who was sinning. Unfortunately we tend to resent the person who points out our errors. When this is our response to the other, we are sinning because we are choosing to tear down the relationship even we declare that we have forgiven the other person.

Avoiding sin is not as simple as making one list of sins to avoid and another of what we have to do so that we are not sinning. Instead Jesus gave us the commandment to love one another as he has loved each of us. Rather than focusing on sin (the breaking of relationship), Jesus tells us to focus on the building of relationships.

Prayer for today : Loving Father, we thank you that you did not wait for us to repent before sending Jesus to love us. Help us to focus on living in relationships that are loving and healthy. Help us to love in the way that you love us. Amen.