The majority of Christians don't understand the depth of God's hatred for sin. The Bible says in Isaiah 55:8, “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord.” God's ways and thinking aren't like ours.
The truth is that God does not like sin, and by sin, he means all sins. He does not weigh a sin much greater than the other. Instead, He just wants us to be holy (Matthew 5:48).
However, we as Christians sometimes think that we are just spectators of our own process of transformation. We must realize that as part of the process, we are subjected to struggle against the sin of the flesh all the time.
Sin is around, and we must measure it not by the level of sin but rather by the fact that its gravity is too strong; it can pull us and rot us to death.
1. All Sins Have the Same Effect
Punishment has always been parallel to sin. When we do bad things, we think that we will be punished in the end. In the worldly view, we can see this punishment in many forms.
For example, we know based on what we read in the Bible that the Roman authorities were brutal towards those who committed any crime. Sometimes, the Romans were so inhumane and gruesome, as we see in the act of crucifixion itself.
Another form of punishment that the Romans did was that of murderers. The Romans shackled convicted murderers to the dead bodies of their victims. They often chained the murderer and their victim together, and the murderer had to carry the victim's body for days.
Eventually, though, the corpse's rotting flesh would become rife with disease, infecting the killer and bringing him to a gruesome death. These vile disciplinary measures became well known in the Roman provinces by design, and in fact, it has become a metaphor for sin.
Like the dead body that the murderer carried, we, as sinful beings, are surrounded by and constantly touched by sin all the time. In the same way that a dead body eventually infects and destroys the healthy body it's attached to, sin eventually infects us if we don't overcome it.
We die slowly and painfully. Getting directly punished by God doesn't happen that quickly either, but a life of sin slowly poisons us, pulling us away from God, our only reliable protection.
Paul emphasizes this in his teachings that sin destroys us and rots us. The gravity of sin is unbearable, and we should be wary of it. He warns us not to underestimate the weight, gravity, and sordid nature of sin that the devil will use against us.
2. Sin Pulls Us Downward
Sin also pulls us downward and downward when we continue sinning and disobeying. We know for certain that despite God's love, mercy, and forgiveness, He holds believers like us accountable for our disobedience.
God does not like to be disobeyed. Those who disobey God rebel and distrust Him. Disobedience is yielding to one's self-will rather than surrendering to God and seeking His will in all things.
But the good news is that we can be obedient by fearing God and avoiding sin. Accepting and obeying the will and authority of God is obedience. We have to submit to God.
In other words, we must express our submission to God through our actions, words, and thoughts. Obedience is easy if we have Christ with us. We have the power of being in agreement with God by being in Christ.
Another way of avoiding sin is by confessing it and accepting that we are never innocent. When we confess our sins, God will forgive us and make us righteous again.
Paul emphasized this in his teachings that as long as we claim to be innocent of sin, we deceive ourselves and do not possess the truth.
That is why we have to be fearful of God and God alone. Fear of God is the best strategy to avoid sin. As the Old Testament teaches, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," as we read in both Psalm 111:10 and Proverbs 1:7, 9:10.
The fear of God is an act of reverence, an act of fear of giving Him the honor and glory He deserves and avoiding His chastisement. The result of this is that it keeps us from temptations and sins while motivating us to lead a righteous life.
We as believers should never fear temptation and instead fear God alone. When we fear temptation, we experience self-doubt, sensitivity, and confidence in ourselves.
If you want to fully understand the subtlety and strength of a man's corruption and lies, you must be aware of their influence throughout your life. A fear like that would be disobeying God and dishonoring Him.
As a believer, God expects you to fear sin and to strive for righteousness. It is important for Christians to be aware of their weaknesses and the power of sin in order to avoid grieving the Lord.
The fear of God prevents us from improperly influencing fellow believers, compromising their ministry and witness to the unbelievers, inviting God's chastisement, and lacking joy by improperly influencing them.
3. Christ Is with Us on the Battlefield
Finally, the gravity of sin can be further avoided by daily communication with God through Christ because for one to have godly fear and trembling, it takes more than admitting our sins and weaknesses.
We have to have Christ with us in this battle. We have to be embraced by love and deep adoration towards God and a sincere desire not to offend Him but rather obey, honor, please, and glorify Him.
As Christ taught us in Matthew 6:13: "do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil," believers who experience fear and trembling pray for God's guidance in not committing sin. The prayer highlights the conflict that exists between the duty of believers and the power of God.
It is God's nature to listen to our hearts' desires, especially if our desire is to avoid sin. He is almighty and forgiving, and He will always honor our heart's desire. Communication with Him is always essential.
As we strive to avoid sin and temptation, we must remember that Christ is with us as not merely our encourager but our strength. He holds the power to help us avoid sin, and He holds the power to help us communicate with the Father.
After all, Jesus died for our sins to redeem us. We must also remember to thank Christ for taking the gravity of our sins into His hands by dying on the cross.
The gravity of sin is a weight that we as Christians should always be wary of. It rots us, pulls us down, and makes us lose our way to God. The good news is that there is a way to avoid it, and it is by fearing God and by praying to God.
We must never fear sin; rather, fear God instead. If we fear God, He will give us the strength to surpass any temptations that come our way. He knows our every being, and as long as we communicate to God through fervent prayer, we are able to avoid the gravity of sin.
For further reading:
How Does Sin So Easily Entangle Us?
What Does it Mean That All Have Fallen Short of the Glory of God?
Does God See All Sins as Equal to One Another?
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Glory Dy has been a content creator for more than 10 years. She lives in a quiet suburb with her family and four cats.
