For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. "
(Romans 6:23)
Many times people do not want to understand what sin really is. Some people call sin, religion instead of idolatry; others call it fun or party instead of drunkenness; some more say sexual preferences instead of homosexuality; People always call sin differently in order to feel that what they do is not bad.
For God, sin is sin and no man in the world can change it. The Bible clearly says: "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; that make light darkness, and darkness light; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! "(Isaiah 5:20).
This is sin
The word sin in archery, refers to not hitting the target. For God, sin is something unpleasant, it is not doing good (not hitting the target). Sin is something horrible in the eyes of God, but the devil disguises it as something nice before our eyes; If we could stop and see how God sees, we would realize how horrible sin is and what its consequences are.
The Bible says: "... sin is the transgression of the law" (1 John 3: 4). But sin is not only a violation of God's law, it is sin to live in a way that turns away from God, is to refuse to live under the will of God.
"Everybody does"
When we talk about sin, the first thing people say is: "that's normal", "everyone does it", "I have to enjoy life". The world wants to make you believe that it is normal to do evil, but is it really what God wants? If God tells us not to do something, it is because he knows what the consequences are for that act.
People mock the children of God for not following the currents of this world. It is better to walk in a nice way before God than to follow the counsel of sinners (Psalm 1).
Sin brings separation
"There is a path that seems right to man; but its end is the way of death "(Proverbs 14:12). All sin, be it small or great (according to men) the consequence is death. Death means separation, therefore when we sin we create an invisible barrier that produces this separation.
God does not want that separation between him and man, God therefore sent Christ to solve that problem of sin.
Everything starts in the heart
Although we can say that sin entered through Adam and Eve, we can not blame them at all. We are responsible for our actions and we can not say that we sin because of others. "... each one is tempted, when from his own concupiscence he is attracted and seduced. Then concupiscence, after it has conceived, gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is finished, gives birth to death "(James 1: 14-15).
We are tempted by our own desires, not because others incite us to do something bad. When we heed those desires, it is said that we have sinned and sin as we saw it produces separation.
Everything begins in the heart, Jesus himself said: "... what comes out of the mouth, from the heart comes out; and this contaminates man. For out of the heart come thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies "(Matthew 15: 18-19). That is why we must constantly examine ourselves in the light of the Word of God, to know if we are doing what God does not like or if we are not doing what is good.
Sin Hurts
One day I was on the bus on the way to my house, and a man sat next to me. I was thinking and talking with God. Suddenly I heard in my mind that God told me: "Turn to see that man." When I turned to see him, the man was cutting his fingernails; I saw that the nail of his thumb was cut, so much so that his finger began to bleed, but he did not stop, he kept cutting his nails. God told me: "This is how people are, even though they know they are hurting, they continue doing the same thing." People sin, and sin hurts, but in spite of hurting they continue with their bad habits. Worst of all, in some cases we hurt even those around us.
How to get out of sin
There is a story that marked my life, the story of Naaman recorded in 2 Kings 5. This man was extremely courageous and highly esteemed by society, a strong man who led Syria from victory to victory, but he had a problem, he was leprous .
This man had to acknowledge his problem and seek help. He had to seek the help of God and discover himself before him, remove all appearance and recognize his weakness; Only then could he obtain his healing. Sin is a spiritual leprosy that only God can heal, but we must recognize that we need his help.
Recognizing is a good step, but it is not enough to acknowledge that we have sinned, we must confess it to God, the second part of Proverbs 28:13 says: "But whoever confesses and departs will obtain mercy."