“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. – Matthew 7:3-5

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace-Ephesians 1:7

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.- Romans 5:12

 

 

A Sin Is A Sin Is A Sin

We are all equal as sinners.
For a sin is a sin is a sin.
But when we start to compare ours to others’
The door opens and the enemy slides in.

The Lord calls us to give up control,
Give our whole lives over to him.
He leaves no room for our wiggling,
Or for committing “kind of a sin”

The Lord wants us to stop judging our peers.
Makes it clear we’re no better than they.
Warns us we can either judge or love
But we just can’t have it both ways.

We are all equal as sinners.
For a sin is a sin is a sin.
But when we start to compare ours to others’,
The door opens and the enemy slides in.

God knew we’d always be sinners.
And because we couldn’t atone we’d be lost.
Still, because He loved us so much,
He sent His own Son to die on the cross.

Don’t despair of being a sinner.
It’s your nature, you can be nothing else.
The key is to ask God to relieve you of sin.
And quit thinking you can do it yourself.

We will always be equal as sinners.
For a sin is a sin is a sin.
Let’s stop comparing ours to others’;
Slam the door before the enemy slides in.
© Linda Troxell 1/10/17

 

Have you ever witnessed someone commit a sin and then said to yourself or to someone with you, something like, “Wow, I know I’m ____ (fill in the blank) greedy, selfish, unforgiving, but at least I don’t do that.”? We all find it easy to identify the sins of our neighbors and to use their sins to minimize our own. Whatever their sin might be, we tell ourselves our sins are not as bad as theirs. Well, although there is some controversy in the Christian world about whether or not some sins are worse than others, and if so, which ones are the worst sins, there is no controversy about the fact that we have no business judging our sins against the sins of others. Jesus made it very clear that we need to take care of our sins and leave the sins of others to God. He expressed this when he told the men who wanted to stone the adulteress that whoever was without sin should cast the first stone. He expressed it again in Matthew 7:3-5 when He asks “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” These are but two of the many passages in the Bible that make it clear that God wants us to tend to ourselves and allow Him to deal with others.

But the enemy, now he loves to catch us comparing our sins to the sins of others. That opens the door for him to join with us in framing our bad behavior as only “normal”. Once he gets us in that frame of mind he can convince us that a little more and a little more is OK. From there it is easy for him to jump right into our heads with his lies; starting with a little shame, “You call yourself a Christian?” And continuing with a bit of fear, “Looks like there’s no heaven for you.” Then a little nudge toward rebellion. “Of course, He expects too much of you anyway. How could you possibly live up to His expectations?” And finishing with a push into despair, “You might as well quit trying, you’ll never be good enough.” You can see how the enemy plays on our insecurities, how he builds on his own words until soon, he has us convinced that God will not forgive us. But, make no mistake, they are all lies. God will always forgive us and the Bible tells us so in Ephesians 1:7: In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.

While judging our neighbors and comparing our sins is not what God wants us to do, He knows it is in our nature to do so. God knows better than anyone that we have a sinful nature. He tells us in Romans, Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.- Romans 5:12  God knows we cannot be sin free because it would require us to behave against our nature, which we might be able to do for a short time, but is very, very difficult and fraught with failure.  it just cannot be sustained.  Let me give you an example using my dog, Dr. Harry Harlow.

I don’t allow Harlow to bark. And being a dog, it is in his nature to want to please me. So he tries very hard not to bark. But it’s also in his nature to bark if he thinks there’s danger. So, when he hears a strange sound, he tries very hard not to bark but he isn’t always successful. When he does bark, I can tell by the way he looks at me that he tried not to and is remorseful, (or perhaps only anxious about being reprimanded). Instead of being angry when he fails though, I love him for trying so hard to go against his nature just to please me. So, when he asks my forgiveness after his occasional bark by coming for a pet and a cuddle, I can’t deny him?

I think God feels the same way about us. When He knows that because we love Him we struggle to do the very best we can, even when we fall short, it makes Him happier than does a perfect performance of a task which comes easily. I believe that God loves that we love Him enough that we will struggle to please Him. And that means that no matter what we’ve done, or not done if we come to God with a heart of repentance and ask for His forgiveness, He will never withhold it. He will always love us and support us.

However, often that love and support involve more struggle. God will never give up on us and He will continue to teach us how to do the right thing. But because learning to act against one’s nature to do the right thing takes practice and repetition, His teaching comes in the form of opportunities to do the right thing. For example, if we are struggling with a particular sin, let’s say pride, we can expect God to frequently put us in situations that give us the opportunity to humble ourselves. If being judgmental is our sin then God will often put us in positions where our judgment of others causes us negative consequences. And He will probably also put us in positions where we are painfully judged ourselves just to introduce a little empathy. I’ve noticed that the sins we notice most frequently and judge most harshly in our neighbors, tend to be the same sins we find the most difficult to overcome in ourselves. Consequently, we can expect God to fill our paths with those whom we share our most difficult sins. He does this to give us an opportunity to stop judging and comparing our sins to the sins of others.

Most of us see tests as only opportunities to fail and feel bad about ourselves. That’s because, in the natural world, tests scores are commonly used to compare ourselves with others. So it would be easy to think of the opportunities God gives us to learn as just more tests; more opportunities to feel bad about ourselves. But whether we call them opportunities or tests, the opportunities God gives us are different from worldly tests in one very important way; we cannot fail them. That’s because, contrary to being opportunities to fail and judge ourselves, the “tests” God gives us are designed to allow us to succeed and grow. We cannot fail God’s “tests”, for God will never see us as failures. Instead, He will continue to give us opportunities for growth and success until we grow and succeed. It is so wonderful that among the many gifts with which God blesses us, His grace to never give up on us is one of the best! Praise God!

 

Points for Prayer and Pondering

1. Write about or meditate on a time when you tried to make yourself feel better about your own sin by judging someone else for theirs. Was it successful in making you feel better about yourself? If so, for how long?

2. Is God dealing with you presently about a sin you struggle with? Write or meditate on this sin and how it affects your life.

3. What test/opportunity to succeed has God presented to you regarding this, or any sin? Give a few examples of how He has done this.