"Sin..........................................

Early Saturday morning here. Quiet time. I’m stretched out in my recliner with a hot cup of coffee, Bible, books, and a notepad scattered around me, an electric heater taking a bit of the chill off the room. Tomorrow we return to the Youth Detention Center and my thoughts are a mixed bag of building on that which I shared with the kids last week and incorporating into it pieces of a running conversation entertained this week with a friend. The Bible informs us that “there is none righteous; no, not one”, going on in the next verse to suggest that the reason, at least in part, had much to do with our lack of understanding, our humanity and its failure to “seek after God”. Indeed, in the Gospel of John, when the Pharisees question Him about His claim of bringing judgment to a world that is blind, Jesus replies it is a man’s refusal to accept that he exists in such state that, in turn, accounts for his sin. I maintain, therefore, that while the Creator, like us, may well deem some trespasses more serious than others, it is the “root” of the problem that most concerns Him. Be it homosexuality or a lie, murder or calling some fellow a fool, self-imposed rejection of God’s involvement in our affairs is what separates us from what He would extend unto us. What’s more: being “born-again” doesn’t negate our ability to follow our own thinking instead of His tug on the reins. Life “happens”; history “shapes” us; and although “in Christ” we may start anew, we “see” only in as much as He is more than just a doctrine we have learned, a fellowship we have joined, a religion we have donned in His name……