Why Is It Sin?

Recently I was reflecting on repentance and sin, and the recognition of sin, as the reason we need to repent.  As I was thinking through those themes, I realized that the question why is important, as in "why is something a sin"?   I was reminded of a couple of verses immediately - Matthew 18:2-3 NIV: "He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. [3] And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

I remember when my son was in his "why?" stage, he must have asked "why?" close to a hundred times a day.  He wanted to understand the why for everything.  It wasn't enough for us to say because we said so.  I think, we must bring a bit of this attitude to our faith, and to our relationship with the Lord!  He doesn't mind the "why?" and He never rolls his eyes back in His head, after our hundredth question.  

It seems to me that we have unfortunately removed much of the "why?" from our presentation of faith and sin, and specifically as it relates to our relationship with the Lord.  Having the frame-work of a relationship of love, puts many of the listed sins into correct context and allows us to understand why its considered a sin.  Just like certain behaviors and thinking as a single individual are no longer ok or beneficial when married, so are certain thinking and behaviors no longer beneficial for growing our relationship with the Lord.

In other words, if the target is loving God and loving others as Jesus Loves, then anything that distracts us from that target is not helpful, and causes us to sin (miss the mark).

If we take one of the lists from Paul and look at the sins from the framework of relationship with God as being the bullseye, we might be helped.  Here is a list from Paul's letter to the Romans 1:28-31 NIV:

[28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. [29] They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, [30] slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; [31] they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy."

Some of the sins need no further examination, but some of the lesser ones like greed, deceit, gossips, slanderers, arrogance and boasting might require further examination. Looking at these from a command to love 'God and others' does provide helpful perspective, at least to me.

Greed - I am saying I want more that I have been provided and I am ok if others get hurt/less in my pursuit.  I am focused on myself, rather than others. Selfishness is the core motivation, and in the place of selfishness, other relationships will suffer.  I am clearly shooting wide of the mark of loving God and loving others as Jesus loves.  In this case, I am effectively saying I love money more than anything or anyone else.

Deceit - is the purposeful wrongful representation of something, most often for gain of some sort.  It is impossible to have a real relationship based on deceit.  Deceit is mostly focused on the loving others part, as it is impossible to deceive God.  Again the core motivation is selfishness, a withholding of truth for one's own benefit, no matter how badly the one being deceived will be wounded upon finding out the truth.  I think this is also a form of self-idolatry, of thinking one's plans and schemes are better than God, or His plans.  Again, clearly missing the mark!

Gossiping is really a form of judgment and accusation, as is slander.  I think we could say most often this is against others, so missing that part of the bullseye, but I think we could actually add bad theology into this, for when we mis-characterize God, we are essentially spreading a bad report.  The whole point of gossip and slander is to wound another, or to wound their character in the eyes of someone else.  This is clearly missing the mark!

Arrogance and boasting are related and similar in how they miss the mark.  Both seem to me to be a form of self-idolatry, and judging of others.  When we misrepresent ourselves, or present ourselves as better than we are, or judge others as less then ourselves, we are again missing the mark of loving as Jesus loved, and Loving God first.  Jesus, although the perfect son of God, and representation of Him, never seemed to minister in arrogance or boasting, in fact He chose purposely over and over to stay out of the lime-light, ministering to the poor and lowly, rather the rich and famous.  He knew who he was, yet served others, even to the washing of feet.  Treating others as 'less than' is clearly missing that mark.  Taking pride in one's own abilities to that level is also taking credit for what God did, for He is our creator.  When this is in our heart and mind, we aren't looking at God, and thus need to repent (turn-around).

I could continue on with the list, but this reflection has been quite helpful to me in understanding the why of these sins. I think if I spend more time listening to the Lord, and ask Him to bring revelation of those areas where I am clearly missing the mark, I will find He is faithful to help me see, and change.  His desire is that we embrace our relationship with Him, and represent Him well to others by loving them as He does, and He is a good teacher.  I find that His guidance to me is most-often very gentle and encouraging me, which is exactly how I see Him acting towards sinners, in need of repentance.  It is my  choice to think and act differently, and He provides me the reason for me to do so!

Oh Lord, help us to see our lives, our actions and thoughts in light of our relationship to You, how we love You and Your other daughters and sons.  Help us to recognize when we are missing the mark, that we might choose to think and act differently!

Amen!