“THAT ONE!”
By Susan Klein
“There is no one righteous, not even one…”
Ephesians 3:10 (NIV)
“I would NEVER do
that!” Have these words ever flown freely from your lips? You know, in regard
to that heinous sin or inconceivable act that you’d never ever consider doing?
Yah, THAT ONE. We all have our lists of “those ugly things” that we’d never do!
And when we see or hear of others doing them…gasp! Send them to the gas chamber! Let
them rot in jail! These might be just a few of the thoughts we find ourselves
entertaining. I know I’ve been guilty of this a time or two, or ten…
Isn’t it peculiar
how we create our own hierarchy of sin? Where in Scripture might we actually see
this modeled? Um, it’s not. In fact, James tells us that quite the opposite is
true: “Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty
of breaking it all.” [1] Hmm…ruminate on that
for a minute. The first sin that I ever committed - - no matter how tiny - -
made me guilty of committing all sins. Yikes!
James prefaces this
point by stating that if we really
kept the royal law, “Love your neighbor as yourself…” Then we’d be doing right.
But if we create a hierarchy of sins, making some more abhorrent than others, then
we ourselves are sinning. We are essentially trying to minimize our own sins.
Granted, some sins
are more egregious than others and may even carry stiffer penalties or have
harsher consequences. But when it comes right down to it, sin is sin. We are
all on equal standing before God, equally
guilty of breaking His perfect law. No one should be valued as lower than
others for having “uglier” sin.
God’s holy word even
takes this one step further. We are exhorted to value those other sinners as
higher than ourselves. Whoa. Not lower, not even as equals, but “higher.” [2] Remember that royal law? Now, let’s think of
THAT ONE sin again. Let’s think of the person who is committed THAT sin. How do
we view them now? Can we humbly look at them as children that are dearly loved by
our heavenly Father - - desperately in need of our Savior? The same way that we
hope to be viewed for our sin?
Let us take on the
attitude of Jesus Christ, who made Himself nothing. Though He is equal with
God, He took on the nature of a servant… and humbly became obedient to death. [3]
GOING DEEPER:
1) What does your hierarchy look
like? Which sin is at the top?
2) How might you adjust your view of
other people’s sin?
FURTHER
READING:
Susan is married to Mark, and co-leads an in-home small group.
She serves as a mentor to young women, and is a member of Oakwood’s Peace Team,
helping people work through conflict.
[1] James 2:8-10
[2] Philippians 2:3
[3] Philippians 2:4-8
