Basic Sin 101

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

Growing up in a Christian home, I naively believed sin was something only non-Christian’s needed to really worry about. What I didn’t understand at the time was that sin is much more than outright rebellion against God. Sin permeates just about every aspect of our culture and is as much a part of us as our personality. It’s inescapable this side of heaven. It is when I realize how bad my sin was that I understood how good God is.

The harsh personal reality of sin makes what Jesus did on the cross so much more powerful: God didn’t just give us a way to avoid some distant sin; He stepped down into the depths of our sin and brokenness and loved us despite it all we were He saw who we could become. While the Cross was terribly difficult for Jesus; it was the separation for God the Father that troubled Jesus even more. "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." Luke 22:42 Jesus felt the separation from the Father that all humans feel or have felt before their Salvation.

It was this realization that helped me grow beyond my naive understanding of grace and realize that I’m just as guilty as anyone else; my sins put Jesus on the cross! Just because I was born into a Christian home and didn’t have as a dramatic “born again” experience, doesn’t mean I was born free of sin’s curse. Just for the record my “born again experience” was one I have never forgotten even if less dramatic than other’s appear to have been…it was “preciously mine”.

The enemy wants us to minimize sin so we let our guard down and fail to see our need for a Savior. So let’s look deeply at our sin, examine it in all its brutal ugliness, search for the root causes, and repent. Only then will we truly be able to understand Grace and forgiveness and see how wonderful it is that Christ would choose to love us sinners. Being forgiven is only the beginning, it is with this personal Salvation that I began to realize the joy of being blessed by, guarded by, and provided for, through the unfathomable and the deeply rich, Love of God, Himself.

The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart ... God shall have the praise of it: thus must we express our gratitude. Psalm 28:7

Jesus said.” Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen“. King James 2000 Bible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBKodIRDGkw