The Sin in Our Lives

Before I even get into this, I want to first say that I am as guilty of this as anyone else who is a Christian. So, here we go; are we unrepentant of our sin? What I mean is, do we seriously understand that our sin, or the sin in our lives, deeply offends God. We are always so busy with our daily lives and our prayers are a hit and run, drive by type of 'give me' and 'I need' requests and we never stop to consider the thing we did yesterday or earlier today which was sinful. We need to take an inventory of our lives and consider what we have done which is sinful and has offended our Lord.


I want to go to a scripture passage from Ezra which shows how we should react to sin in our lives or even in our immediate family. Ezra returned from exile in Babylon to Jerusalem and was serving in what we would relate to today as Israel’s spiritual leader or maybe a pastor. He was officially a scribe and a student of God’s word and he was a teacher of the Law. After receiving information about certain men and women of Israel intermarrying with people from other nations, he reacted in this manner.

When I heard about this matter, I tore my garment and my robe, and pulled some of the hair from my head and my beard, and sat down appalled.  Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel on account of the unfaithfulness of the exiles gathered to me, and I sat appalled until the evening offering.

But at the evening offering I arose from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn, and I fell on my knees and stretched out my hands to the Lord my God;  and I said, “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, for our iniquities have risen above our heads and our guilt has grown even to the heavens.

When Ezra says, ‘I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to you...’ that should have a powerful impact on our own sinful lives. When I read this in my daily reading the other day, it hit me hard and I had to go back and keep reading it over and over. I knew right then that I was extremely guilty of this; oh, I ask God to forgive me when I know I have sinned but is my attitude always as that of Ezra’s? I can answer that quickly, “No.” And that is my point; we ask God to forgive us but what is our attitude at that moment? Is our heart broken by this sin in our life?


I sincerely believe the Church in our society and current time has lost it’s focus on what God expects from us and how we view our Lord. Jesus sacrificed His own life and died on a cross for our sin. He didn’t have to do that; He could have said no and returned to His throne in heaven. But Jesus loved us so much that He knew it was our only way to salvation and freedom from sin. Do we think about this when we ask Him to forgive us? Are we specific about our sins when we ask Him to forgive us or, do we just bundle them all together and simply ask for forgiveness?


When we commit a sin, and we are well aware of it, it should break our hearts and we should immediately ask God to forgive us. And, we should know and understand the seriousness of the sin and how it offends our Lord. If we just throw up a request for forgiveness in a very nonchalant manner, we don’t understand the seriousness of our sin and we haven’t grasped the full understanding of the sacrifice Jesus made for us. As we continue in this way of treating our sin, our hearts become harder, not softer, in our relationship with God.


Why are some Christians so ignorant to the seriousness of our sin and the manner in which we ask God to forgive us? Well, I can’t speak to every Christian’s heart condition but I have an idea of why so many are caught in this relaxed mode of serving God. The Church in this country is so laid back in its worship of God. By laid back, I’m not talking about the way people dress or the type of music in a worship service. I’m talking about what is being delivered from the pulpit. I grew up in ministry learning the only way to convey the message of God’s word was to teach the scriptures. My personal preference was to teach verse by verse, chapter by chapter and book by book. How can a Christian learn from the Bible if it is never taught or preached from the pulpit?


What I am getting at is many churches don’t even teach from the Bible during a service, be it Sunday or any other day of the week. And, if it is taught, it is given in such a watered down way that any true Biblical meaning is lost. Christians can’t learn by hearing an opinionated lecture on problems in our society or how to feel good about yourself. Also, they will not be encouraged to read the Bible on their own by this method. Yes, Christians have to read and study the Bible on their own time as well as hearing it from the pulpit. But if they are not encouraged to do that, you have a bunch of Bible illiterate Christians.


If a Christian does not know what the Bible says or teaches us, how can he/she be expected to understand the seriousness of our sin or how much it offends God? I am talking about people who are saved and not a person who attends church because it makes him/her feel good. This person doesn’t even have a personal relationship with Jesus so how could he/she ever understand the seriousness of their sin unless they hear it from the pulpit and get saved. That’s a topic for a different time.


It’s not hard to see why Christians in some churches are deficient in their lack of Bible study or knowledge of what the Bibles says. When we have pastors jumping out of airplanes and onto the church grounds while trying to preach a sermon or pastors buying $200,000 cars for their wives (and it doesn’t matter where the money came from) or wearing $4000 sneakers while on the platform on a Sunday morning, where is the attention of the congregants? When a pastor steps into the pulpit and uses a string of curse words or some other type of profanity, how can anyone present consider the seriousness of sin? If the pastor doesn’t have a contrite heart, how can anyone else in that fellowship have one? And, how do we expect nonbelievers to take Jesus and Christianity serious when they hear and see this?


If church is all about fashion, glitter and entertainment, how can those in attendance be fed by the word of God? Now, understand that not every church in this country conducts church services in this manner but so many do. The mega church is such an attraction to our society because it’s bright and flashy and entertaining. Everything on the platform is attractive to the eye and the music, in many cases, is a strong reflection of our culture (I am a big follower of contemporary worship but not a rock concert). Some churches have gone as far as to play secular music before the service begins. I guess this to make visitors feel more relaxed and welcomed?

In his book, Letters to the Church, Francis Chan makes this suggestion,

Imagine you find yourself stranded on a desert island with nothing but a copy of the Bible. You have no experience with Christianity whatsoever and all you know about the Church will come from your reading of the Bible. How would you imagine a church to function? Seriously. Close your eyes for two minutes and try to picture “Church” as you would know it. Now, think about your current church experience. Is it even close? Can you live with that?

If you are in a local church that preaches and teaches the Bible, great. If you are a Christian who understands the seriousness of sin and how it offends and breaks God’s heart, great. But if you are a Christian who feels God is a sugar daddy and someone to make you feel good or to move all the speed bumps in your life, you need to back up, take a serious look at your Christian faith and seriously seek God’s forgiveness with a broken heart. If you are attending a church that does anything other than teach the Bible, start looking for another church that does. And finally, begin to read and study the Bible and understand how serious our sin is and how serious it is for us to be broken by it and ask God’s forgiveness knowing how that sin has broken His heart as well.


We serve an all loving, all forgiving God who only wants what is best for each of us but we must remember that He does not honor a sinful heart or a heart that has been clogged by sin which we consider harmless.

 If I had not confessed the sin in my heart,
    the Lord would not have listened.  PS 66:18