The Aim Of Sin
There
is an adage among Second Amendment advocates and those who promote gun
ownership that “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.”. Last Sunday, a church in central Texas personally
lived this debate.
Now
before we go any further I want to be clear about my point – I am not
advocating the right to carry a gun, nor am I promoting an anti-gun
agenda. As citizens of this nation we
have the luxury of engaging in this public debate, but this article is about
human, moral choice. In-and-of
themselves a firearm, a vehicle, a canister of oxycodone or a bottle of Jack
Daniels mean nothing. They are merely
tools to be used or misused by people.
These things have no heart, no conscience, no culpability. Yet, when we pick them up and they begin to
serve our purposes – that is when we have an accountability to our fellow man
and must answer to God.
As I look back on the events of the past week I am drawn to James’
description of sin. As he begins a very
practical discussion of Christianity, the brother of Jesus writes:
Blessed
is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will
receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”;
for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his
own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it
gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth
death. (James 1:12-15)
All people have an accountability for their actions and a part of this
responsibility comes with an understanding of the process of sin. We can call it “mental illness”, we can label
it “social injustice”, we can even excuse it as being “misguided”; but, God
calls it sin! Sin baits us by finding
the self-centered recesses of our minds and creates a way to use it as a disadvantage
– to satisfy our desires. Sin gets its
hooks into us when we begin to rationalize the “pros” and reduce the “cons” of
an immoral action. Satan reels us in
when we act in opposition to God’s will and His Word. I find it interesting that James uses the
world “death” to describe the final state of iniquity. We correctly understand it as being the
separation between us and God, but, often, sin produces a different type of
death. It can lead to the demise of
hope, it can kill relationships and, in its most extreme form, it can end our
or another person’s life.
This week our prayers continue to go out to a community in grief and a
nation in turmoil. As we petition for
healing and comfort, let’s not forget to pray for our own strength as we deal
with temptation and sin.