In the recent Presidential Forum on Faith, Values, and Poverty, Democratic Presidential candidate John Edwards came out with the bold statement, "I sin every single day". At first I was surprised, I don't know of any other presidential candidate making such a vulnerable statement. But after a few minutes the shock wore off and the reality set in that it is an all too common phrase that comes out of the mouth of Christians these days.
What is it so special about these 5 words that we seam to wear them as a badge? As if to say "Look at me I know how bad of a person I am". Does it make us more spiritual people? Sure the Bible doesn't cast a very positive light on sin, but is self-deprecation really what God had in mind? What does this say about ourselves? What does this say about God?
The first time the word sin appears in the Bible is in Genesis 4 and no it's not the story of the apple. It's the story about Cain and Abel. Cain and his brother Abel give some gifts to God, and for some unknown reason God is happier with Abel's gift. Just after that we get this passage:
6 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."
You can master sin? Where did that come from? Maybe we aren't actually meant to sin every day for the rest of our lives. Maybe we should stop giving sin more power over our lives than it actually has.
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3 comments:
I agree with you about Edwards' comment and similar remarks made by us in many contexts. However, I don't think it's possible for us to go a day without sinning, since God knows and judges even our thoughts, and because we are judged not only for what we do, but for what we fail to do. That said, we don't need to be depressed about sin's power of us, because we know that, as Paul says, Jesus Christ our Lord will deliver us from the body of death in which we still find ourselves - His righteousness for our unrighteousness.
As for the reference to Cain and Abel, I would suggest that the context makes it more likely that God is speaking about the particular sin of envy and, ultimately, murder which is lurking at the door for Cain. Saying that this sin is resistable is the same as what Paul says, "No temptation has come to you more than what is common to man, and when you are tempted, God will also provide the way of escape." Furthermore, even if Cain was unable to master the temptation (as, in fact, he was), it was still his moral duty to master it.
I wonder, what does it says about God that, say for example, a 90 year old who has followed God for all his life couldn't go 24 hours without sinning? One day in his 90 year old life even after cultivating a relationship with God for all those years. Is it really not possible? He would be sleeping for 8 hours of that day, maybe have an afternoon nap too. :)
The "I sin every single day" statement, makes me wonder if we actually don't believe that God can change our hearts. Also, if humans are made in the image of God, although a poor reflection, how can we see ourselves a so fundamentally evil that we can't possibly fathom that we could go 24 hours without sinning.
Re: the 90-yr-old, I'm not sure. I think it's been the experience of many Christians, though, that the longer they have been Christians, the more they are aware of their own sin. As for your other question, I think if you believe that the Fall has made us "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked" (as Jer. 17 says), then it makes sense that we would sin every day despite being originally made perfect holy in God's likeness.
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