Big sins, small sins?

I wondered why sin in general is really so important for everyone because I, and I assume with me most people, feel relatively doing okay compared to those who steal, lie or maybe even worse; hurt or possible even murdered somebody. Then I a heard a comparison that struck me and opened my eyes;

 “A Christian who likes to make the statement he/she hardly ever sins compared to a Christian who asks God on a daily basis to forgive his/her sins are like someone wearing black pants for days before putting on a clean one because it still looks okay compared to someone wearing white paints for only one day because it clearly has a stain.

The only way to see the real difference between the pants is revealed when you hold them up against a bright light….. the real difference between both Christians is revealed by God ‘s light shining in their heart…..”

Sin isn’t necessarily defined as having something done everyone would condemn but  goes much further, much deeper. The actual translation of sin from the Hebrew scripture means “missing the plan and purpose of God with your life”.

Now you might not know exactly what Gods detailed plan with specifically your life is (yet), but  the most important commandment for every Christian, mentioned in the Bible twice (Deut 6:5  & Mark 12:30) is:

 

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

To my believe these verses reflect the most important basics of God’s word,  the Bible, as a whole; showing unconditional love for the world, based on your experience with Gods unconditional love for you! There’s only one single perfect example on the face of the earth and that’s Jesus!

But how could we ever compare with Him? The answer to that for many people is too simple to accept: we can’t compare… We certainly try to earn our way in to heaven, by doing good works, being nice to others, but still we would never be able to match with Jesus for 100%. The bible says we even sin if we don’t do what we know we ought to do (James 4:17)!! That criterium most certainly will place us all on the wrong site of the line!

But because God loved the world so much He found a solution for that; The only one without even the smallest stain of sin, His son Jesus, traded His innocence for our guilt once for all and took the punishment we actually would deserve (Hebrews 7:27).

If we believe this enormous gift and accept it, God’s mercy will never give us what we should deserve (punishment) and His grace will give us what we shouldn’t deserve; an eternal relationship with our Father in heaven! 

It’s not the amount of sin which determines whether we go to heaven or not, the question is: “Do we accept Jesus’ sacrifice and believe it?”