What is sin... to you?

Now, if you read the post title you probably thought I was asking for your opinion of what sin is.  Well, that's not exactly it.  This post is probably going to be a bit more personal than that.  In fact, that is precisely the intent of this post... to bring the concept of sin down to a personal level.

Recently I was listening to a podcast of popular Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias.  He brought to my attention a quote from a letter Susanna Wesley wrote to her son John Wesley when he asked her what the considered sin to be. 

"Take this rule: whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off your relish of spiritual things; in short, whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over your mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may be in itself."

Now, Susanna Wesley is certainly entitled to her opinion.  After all, that's what Christianity is about isn't it... our opinion of what the scripture is telling us?  If you attend bible study in many churches today you might be inclined to think that.  And opinions are fine... for what they are... opinions.  However, at some point you have to put aside opinion and look into the scripture.  Then, at this point there might be room for some interpretation (but if you're going to go into that you need to spend time with the original Greek/Hebrew) but by and large the scripture is pretty much black and white (and red and white depending on your translation). 

So lets look at this piece of advice Susanna gave her son and consider the scriptural relevance.   James addresses this thought very well.  In chapter three of the book of James he addresses the tongue... how double-edged it can be (v. 10).  Then he says "...this should not be" (Ouch)!  The rest of chapters three and four explain to us how our lives are driven from the inside... from our hearts.  If our hearts are on the things of this earth then our lives (and our tongues) will be likewise motivated.  In other words what we say (and how we say it) is pretty much what we are on the inside.

What James is communicating in these chapters is that every aspect of a Christian's life should be based on and come out from our submission to and our love for Christ.  And he gets a bit more personal than that.  He says that "friendship with the world is hatred toward God" (4:4).  What does that mean?  It means that putting on our "Jesus clothes" on Sunday morning for church and then hanging them up for the rest of the week is giving us exactly what we want... the appearance of Christanity without the substance (or without the effort).  It means that studying your bible for two hours a week and then looking at twenty hours a week of trash on television or the internet is doing absolutely nothing for our relationship with Christ.  In fact he says it's hatred (or hostility) toward God.  He even covers the heart in these matters in 4:3 when he says when we do ask we don't receive because our motives aren't pure.  Why are our motives not pure?  Because we are a friend to the world... and not to God (Ouch again).

Basically, we need to get real with our relationship with Christ.  If we want to be like Christ we need to be surrendered to Christ... completely. 

Lastly, James leaves us with a serious challenge.  In 4:17 (NIV) he says "anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins" .  Other translations say, "to him it is sin".  This makes it personal.  We can't point our fingers at anyone else now because James has shown us that the life we live is all up to us.  We either fully submit to Christ or we don't.  We're either a friend of God or we're hostile toward God.  

Now, go back and read again the answer Susanna Wesley gave her son.  Then ask yourself, "what is sin to me"?

"Little Miss Get Well Soon"

Do (or did) you ever find yourself in a situation with your child where you have to decide whether you are going to nurture or discourage a behavior?  Honestly, if you have children over 18 months and haven't come to that point you might need to reconsider your parenting approach.  In fact, we should be helping to guide our children from day one.  Show me a parent who isn't helping to guide their child's development and I'll show you a child the teacher (or daycare worker) dreads to see coming. 

Lacey, our four-year-old, is by far the most outspoken of our three girls.  I have told Dana more than once that she has the privilege of raising me all over again.  I see so much of myself in Lacey... the good and the bad.  Let's start with the bad.

Lacey isn't one to fall on the floor and throw a screaming fit... we have guided her away from that.  In fact, Lacey, like her sisters, is a very well behaved child.  However, Lacey does have some differences of personality from her sisters.  Lacey is very "high-strung" (at least that's what I was called.  Maybe that was just a nice way of saying I was hyperactive).  She is also a very determined little girl.  She has to have an explanation.  With the other girls a reply like "because I said so" worked very well... however, not so well with Lacey.  For instance, when we would tell Lacey to be quiet she would get very upset and say, "can't I just say something"?    So how do you guide someone who is so determined, inquisitive and insistent?  I'll let you know when I've figured it out.

On the good side, and this is the reason for this post, Lacey is one of the most sympathetic people I've ever known.  While most children her age are so involved in play or a meal or a television show, Lacey seems to always be acutely aware of what's going on around her.  My concern here is that as she gets older she, like me, becomes overwhelmed by all the stimuli around her.  And this does seem to come out often in the evening when she's begins to tire.  However, her acute awareness of her surroundings has shown us something wonderful about her.  Lacey is very concerned with other people's problems.  When someone is struggling you can see her struggling with them.  It shows on her face.  We've watched her comfort another child her age who is throwing a fit because they didn't get something.  She is not the least bit concerned with why they're crying (as we adults often are) but only that they are suffering and she wants so much to help make it better.

Lacey is our "Little Miss Get Well Soon".  When someone is sick she is going to do something to help them feel better.  Her first task is to draw them a picture.  She always decides the topic of the drawing.  Then she will get with someone to help her write a letter.  Just last night Dana was sitting on our bed resting with a heating pad on her knees (long story).  And during our bedtime prayer time Lacey informed her mother that she was "going to do something special for you tomorrow to help you feel better".   She is always making something special for some of our Senior church members who have been in the hospital.  She has a genuine desire to do anything she can to help people in their suffering.

The best word for Lacey's feelings is compassion.  Websters defines compassion as "sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it".  And we want to encourage that virtue.  But we want to do it correctly... there is a fine line between being compassionate and being a busy-body.  That fine line is self and we want to make sure that, for Lacey, self is in the right place.

When a person sees someone in distress they respond in a number of ways, but they're all pretty much defined by where one sees oneself in relation to another person's distress.  Lacey sees herself in a position to do something to help.  What does that mean?  Well, it means she thinks less of herself in this situation and more of the other person.  She is willing to sacrifice of herself to help the other person feel better... to the point that she acts on it.  This begs another question.  Is compassion really compassion if you don't act?  Notice the definition above says nothing about acting on it.  It simply conveys a desire to act.  Think about that.

The flip side would be Lacey seeing a person in distress and first considering how their situation affects Lacey.  It doesn't seem like much but there is a vast difference between the two responses.  It's about priorities.  If self is first then the other person is last.  If the other person is first then self is last.

So in considering how to guide Lacey in this area I realized that I really need more guidance than Lacey.  Lacey is doing what she can while I often do nothing.  How do I become more compassionate (and act on it)?  James 14:7 says "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins".  I guess this means I just have to man up!  If I don't know what to do to help someone in distress maybe I should just go up and ask them!  At the very least I should stop right there and ask God to show me what to do.  In fact, before I ever arrive at this point I should be praying for insight and looking for opportunities!  After all, we do have everything we need to be prepared for a situation like this, don't we?  It's actually a little shameful when I think about it.  My four-year-old is teaching me a lesson straight out of scripture. 

Be Prepared!! 

James 1:22-24 (NIV) - Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.