One of the greatest dangers to the Kingdom of God is the Christian, armed with the law of God. Like two six-shooters strapped to his/her side, the laws of God can become weapons with tremendous destructive power when placed in the hands of the prideful.
This is, I believe, exactly one of the reasons that God clearly warned the man and woman in Eden to NOT eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Opening that Pandora's Box (sorry for mixing mythology with Biblical truth - I don't equate them except for this brief analogy) would lead to a long painful journey for mankind, and a costly solution from the hand and heart of God.
The intricate minutiae of the Mosaic law illustrates this precisely. But even more deadly is how we wield this truth. Once we become a child of God we often believe that we have been deputized by God to roam the prairies and rope in the outlaws. We are on God's side and suppose we speak for Him.
See if you don't fall into this trap. Take a moment to think about the top five sins. You can choose the criteria for this judgment in any way you like. What's tops on your list?
It would be fascinating to see the lists of people from different cultures and different generations, for we are morally shaped by the bubble in which we find ourselves. A Midwest top five would be quite different from a West Coast top five. Go to various geographical regions, politically diverse communities, and the array of religious centers, and the responses would differ wildly.
Now compare your top five with God's. What? How do we do that? Well, comb through the Bible and see what sinful habits God addresses most often. You might be surprised by what you find, and how pitifully your top five compares with His.
Many conservative Christians today might have something like this:
- Homosexuality
- Adultery
- Abortion
- Pornography
- Substance abuse
Now, I haven't done a study of this (yet), but from casual observation, I would say that God's top five might be:
- Idolatry (which comes in a multitude of forms)
- Materialism/Greed
- Injustice to the powerless and poverty-stricken
- Cold faith
- Reckless language
I'm not sure where that takes us, exactly, but pondering this might just help us refocus on how we do:
- Personal holiness
- Worship
- Evangelism
- Benevolence
- Relationships
Care to share your Top Five?
1 comment:
Today in the breakroom at work, one of my co-workers was talking about a relative who has "given up drinking" because he has become a Christian. Unfortunately, she said, he is still a jackass. I don't know if it is a sin to be a jackass, but it seems to me that "giving up drinking" is the first thing that many people do when they become a Christian, so apparently most new Christians believe drinking alcohol is their most egregious sin. Does beer-drinking separate a person from God?
Here's my list of what I think are five far worse sins than drinking a bottle of Shiner Bock:
1. Stealing: I literally hate thieves. I work in retail and almost every day find evidence of theft. All of that thievery costs the company millions each year, and that affects how much the company can spend on payroll, so thieves are not only stealing from the store, they're stealing from me. I despise them.
2. Lying: I literally hate a liar and his cousin, the cheater. You can't trust either of them. The liar's word is no good, and the cheater is probably a liar, too, as he takes your money and fails to give you a dollar's worth of goods or services for a dollar in cash.
3. I can't stand someone who thinks he's better than me because he was born richer or has made more money. I dislike myself when I find myself "looking down" on someone who has done less with his life than I (and I haven't done much myself). I don't know what to call this sin, if it even is a sin. It's a lack of humuility, and it pisses me off when I see it others or in myself.
4. I cringe when I hear the Lord's name taken in vain. It is a lack of reverence toward the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. I'm not just taking about people who use the name of Jesus in anger or surprise or who say "G**d*** it!" when they hit their finger with a hammer. I'm talking also about a lot of the preachers who I don't listen to; people on TV who teach that God MUST make you healthy and wealthy. They say all you have to do is name what you want and claim it in the name of Jesus, believe and receive it in the name of the Lord. I think this is taking the Lord's name in vain.
5. Last and in my case, the worst, sin I see is just the failure of Christians to act like Jesus is really their LORD. This is kind of related to the rest of the sins listed above. I sure love Jesus because he's my Savior who gave his life so I don't have to be punished with eternal damnation. But I find myself failing, day after day, to always act like he's my LORD and that my life is His!
OK, I believe I'll go drink a Shiner and think about the meaning of personal holiness.
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