Last week at youth Bible study we were discussing the first sin committed by Adam and Eve and what sin is in general. One of the discussion questions was “Do you regret your sin?” One of the girls piped up immediately, “No! It makes you who you are.” A typical answer for a 13 year old, who has NO idea who she is and has heard many people say that. I decided to challenge her thinking and said, “You know, if I could take every single sin I have committed away, there’d be no question I would. If I could erase all my sins and live the perfect life God had intended me to live, I’d do it in a heartbeat.” I think I got the attention of the group with that. It’s not a popular opinion I don’t think. People don’t want to regret the good times. Because, hey, they were good and they were fun. And true, they were. No one can dismiss how good it can feel to sin sometimes.
Last Thursday I stood in front of my closet picking out what to wear for the day and I could hear the girls starting to dump out toys from their plastic containers in the playroom. I had just cleaned up and didn’t really want to clean it again. I yelled out in my motherly voice, “You can play now, but you’re going to have to clean it up later.” As soon as I said it, I think I muttered a “Woah” out loud….you can play now, but you’re going to have to clean it up later. Let that one sit with you for a moment. I immediately thought of the conversation from Bible study last week.
When we do something that is against God’s word and will, that is sin. A lot of times we don’t like to use that little word. It sounds so…religious and dirty. And to tell the truth, a lot of times it doesn’t seem like the right word because sometimes sinning is so much fun. Wow, did I really say that? But admit it, in the moment, it feels good. But then I think of that phrase uttered to my children…you can play now, but you’re going to have to clean it up later. Isn’t that so true? That innocent, flirtatious conversation with a friend somehow turns into a divorce and a broken family. That fruity drink turns into another one and then somehow turns into a fatal accident and guilt that can never be healed. That anger and jealousy turns into a hurt teenager that goes down as another school shooting. No, not all sin has such dramatic consequences. But any sin we commit takes us a step further away from a closer relationship with God. But most of the time, our sin is a slippery slope into a mess of consequences that we’re just going to have to clean up later.
