A sin is a sin, no matter the difference in gravity
Pastor Alice Warness
As my husband and I were driving down the road the other day, we were discussing some of the latest news headlines and wondering why people do the things they do.
Sometimes the infractions make you shake your head and wonder what a person was thinking. If you read the police blotters, you might even laugh at the outrageous things that some people do to get themselves thrown in jail.
Other things are far more serious. School shootings and acts of terrorism shock us and leave us feeling furious but also helpless because we don’t know what to do, and we didn’t see it coming. I personally get my hackles up if I hear about a violent act against a child or an animal.
After sharing back and forth for a while, my husband looked at me and said, “Are all sins equal?” He wanted to know if God looks at all sins in the same way and if a white lie would separate us from God just the same as committing murder would.
Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death…” and that applies to all sins big and small but it is also obvious that some sins have far greater consequences than others.
If you look back at Exodus 22 and Leviticus 20, you will see that God judged and penalized people differently for varying sins. This suggests that all sins aren’t the same.
If you look at sinning carefully, you will see that there are two kinds of sins; unintentional and premeditated.
Unintentional sin is when a person is caught off guard and gives in to temptation or anger. It is something that just happened and you didn’t mean to do it.
For example, if you were in a situation that caused you to lose your temper, it would be a sin but also unplanned. God doesn’t like these behaviors, but the consequences are usually not far reaching or have horrendous, long-term consequences that would be life changing.
Premeditated sins are a whole different story. When someone plans out a school shooting and gathers the materials that will be needed to carry out such a sin, he or she is using the free will God gives to all people to create wide-spread havoc.
The consequences are devastating and evil. I believe that these kinds of sins will get God’s complete attention and will be judge more harshly.
The bottom line is that all sin separates us from the love of God. The good news is that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and if you reach out to Him, repent and change your ways, you are forgiven.
You can’t go on doing the same sins over and over and expect your life to be different.
John 15:10 says, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”
His commandment is to love one another and if we truly did that, there wouldn’t be a lot of sinning going on.
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